What’s Normal?

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. Romans 12:1-3

What is normal for you?

We are born into a broken world, and, over time, we become conformed to our experience of the world. While we are still free to choose our actions, we are influenced by our context. What we perceive as normal comes out of the social, cultural context we are in. If we grow up in a fatherless family, fatherlessness will become normal for us. What is normal to us naturally forms from the conforming of our lives to the context we live in, but always have the choice of accepting our normal. 

Is sin a way of life, or an evil to overcome? 

Evey context we find ourselves in will include brokenness—from the result of sin in the world—and wholeness—from the grace of God. When we decide to be a Christian, we get to choose which of those two elements will shape us the most. Once we are saved and enter into the Christian faith, we, our eyes are opened to a better way to do life. We decide what we want to be normal for us and then the other way of life will be the one to be overcome. If sin becomes our normal and way of life, then all forms of righteousness will become obstacles to be overcome. If transformational living becomes our way of life, then sin will be the evil that is to be overcome, instead of it being the normal of life.

Are you more conformed to the world or to God and His holiness?

As we refine what is normal for us, we shape how we are formed. We both decide to be influenced by Godly things and we choose to allow those godly influences to shape us. Slowly, gradually, we are shaped by what we allow to influence us. Salvation can look like a flip of the light switch but, more often than not, salvation looks more like a dimmer switch. As we turn on the light, we slowly bring all the elements of our life into the lights so it can be examined. If we liken the elements of our life to mirrors, as we bring them into the light, it makes sense that the light will be magnified as we bring more of our life into the light. As the growing influence of the light—symbolized by the turning up of the dimmer switch—becomes stronger in our life, we see the scum on the mirrors, which we will clean off, making the light even brighter. We are transformed by the holiness of God and that leads to a greater influence of holiness in our life.

Grace saves you and sustains you.

Grace doesn’t fill up our gas tank and send us on our way. Grace is the free gift of God that becomes the ongoing influence that fuels our relationship with God. “Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 Certainly not!” (Romans 6:1-2). Grace is the fuel that drives us away from sin. The more grace, the faster we will be driven away from sin, and this doesn’t mean that sin needs to be continually close to us, so we can keep moving quickly away from it. We choose the social, cultural context we will remain in and that influences who we become.