Assenting Dissention

     "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect."
                                                                        - Romans 12:2(ESV)

     It has been a long time since I have posted here. I hope I haven't lost my already meager readership to more interesting reading. (You know like how to arrange your sock drawer more efficiently or how to keep your PB&J from getting soggy.) During my posting hiatus I have had a lot going on. Some of it very good, some of it no so good. I have done a whole bunch of reading and praying as well. I've also done a lot of thinking. Then, more recently, I began thinking about thinking. Yeah, I'm THAT weird.
     I have been a Christian most of my life. I don't have the riveting, dramatic conversion story of so many saints. I came to Christ at the tender age of seven. Having been a Christian that long I have, begun to realize- more in the last two years- that I am a long way from where I need to be. I realized that for a long time in my walk with Christ I was agreeing with the facts given in the bible. I acknowledged what God's Word said. I agreed. However, I never really acted on what I was agreeing with. More recently I have realized that what I was doing was called mental assent.
     I was mentally agreeing with what God said about me and how I should live and act in my daily life, but I wasn't taking it to heart. When we begin allowing God's Word to really soak in and allow Him to change us, we transition from religious person to Believer. Its a subtle but important difference. That transition is what Paul is speaking of in the verse above. It is a transformation from worldly ideas with religious trappings to true discipleship and Christ-following. I think it was Andy Stanley that wrote that the most important measure of a person's walk with Christ is how they act at home, not in the church. That truth has resonated deeply with me.
     As a law enforcement officer we are often asked moral questions during job interviews. I was once asked to give my own definition of character. I responded that character is who you are when no one else is around.
      So today, are we the Believers we are perceived to be by our peers at church and at work? Or are we just putting on a show to convince others? I am very sorry to say that for a long time I put on an elaborate and convincing show.

     Are you?