Dr. Dan Hayden •
Are you a conformist? Most people are. Even non-conformists tend to conform to non-conformity. Do you remember the Hippies? They all looked alike, didn’t they? The key, however, is—what are you conforming to?
Our society admires individualism, but it encourages conformity. Everything from peer pressure, to corporate solidarity, to telling you “you have to have whatever is in.” Society sends us the message, conformity to the system is how you make it in this world. Yet, God says in Romans 12:2, “and be not conformed to this world…” Now, don’t take that to mean that God is against conformity. He just wants to change what you are conforming to.
Romans 8:29 says “For whom He foreknew,” (that is the children of God), “…He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son.” You see, conformity is good if you’re conforming to the right thing.
This word conformity is an interesting word in the Greek text. It’s the word sumorphos, which means having the same form, or similar in form. It’s a form of morphos–which means, “form”.
Morphing is big in Hollywood. They have developed cinema techniques whereby they can change one thing into something else right before your very eyes. One person becomes another person. A man slowly changes into an animal, or a car changes into a van, and then into a pick-up truck. They change the form and the process is called “morphing.” It’s from this very Greek word morphos, which means “form.”
Now God is into “morphing.” He wants to conform you into the very likeness of Jesus Christ. To change your form of life into the same form as His Son. He wants you to be conformed to the image of His Son.
So, what are you conforming to—the world or Christ?