I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 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 12.1-2
Conforming is easy. Going against the flow in hard. The western world today demands a huge price of those who do not conform to the strange culture that is growing up around us, which cancels, shuns and seeks to vilify those who do not conform especially in areas of gender and sexuality. That which has been the order of things since creation in this area is now stood on its head and those who dare to say otherwise do so often at great personal cost.
Even at Primary school level the pressure is on, as the Welsh Government’s Relationships and Sexuality Education Code approved by the Senedd last week for mandatory use from September 2022 fails to mention man or woman, male or female, boy or girl. The Coalition for Marriage comments on this ‘Quite a feat, given its subject matter.’
This may seem a trivial matter but it is very much the thin end of the wedge, particularly when failing to conform can carry a heavy cost (cf J K Rowling’s current situation) and the fact that the Welsh Government has stated its intention to remove the right of parents to withdraw their children from Sex Education.
How then should we live?
Do we withdraw from the world and pretend it is not happening?
Do we go along with it for a quiet life?
Do we stand for truth with renewed minds driving us to bold action?
The third option is surely the only one that the Christian can follow for we cannot present our bodies as living sacrifices if we are not obeying the will of God revealed in his word.
What is required is the renewing of our minds, and this needs to be a continuous activity for that which would pull our minds in the wrong direction is constantly with us in the media, through peer pressure and our own innate sinfulness.
Such renewing will enable us to present our bodies as holy and acceptable living sacrifices, with the incredible additional benefit that we shall be able to offer true spiritual worship to our God and Father.
What an aim as the New Year approaches.