WORD 2day: Wednesday, 24th week in Ordinary time
September 18, 2019: 1 Timothy 3:14-16; Luke 7: 31-35
What if someone refuses to conform - thank one's fortunes if he or she is a success; if the person bungles, he or she is termed - 'weird', 'good-for-nothing', 'worthless', 'abnormal', 'hard headed', 'stubborn' or so on. The standard criterion for judging anything and everything has become 'success' and nothing else - so the best bet is to conform to the crowd of so-called winners!
Living by values and standing up for truth, keeping your identity alive as a child of God, these seem today to be out-of-fashion slogans. But let us be clear: the only way to belong to the "household of God" (1 Tim 3:15) is by our way of living! In spite of the pressurising crowd, the preposterous situations or the prejudiced society, one is called to remain a disciple of Christ, in word, deed and thought. It is a vocation 24/7; it is a call every moment of the day and every day of the year!
Both options are open to us: the easier option to conform to the world - dancing to its tunes or playing to its moves, or the tougher call to 'put on the mind of Christ' (Phil 2:5). The choice is mine! What I choose, I become - to conform, to compromise or to stand up, stand erect and stand with the Lord?
Paul said it plainly in his letter, "do not conform to this world, but be transformed in Christ, and discern the will of God" (cf. Rom 12:2).