The Risk of Doing Nothing.

“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:2, NASB)

I wonder how many years it took for the house to be all but completely overtaken by overgrowth. Could that happen in one year? Two? Maybe it took three or more years.

An even more interesting question is, what did the owner have to do to get these results?

I can answer that. Not a single thing.

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God warns us that the world wants to control us. I don’t think we even have to read it in the Bible to know it is true.

Social media outlets use algorithms to steer content to us so that we purchase items from their advertisers, who in turn pay the social media outlet.

Television ads work the same way. As do professional race teams. Advertising and sponsorships are a routine mainstay in our world. But we need to recognize that all of this is meant to move us to purchase items from the sponsor.

Now, let’s take that fairly common concept and apply it to the world. By world, I’ll use the following descriptions from the Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary.

The world was not originally evil, yet “the whole world,” since the fall, has come “under the sway of the evil one” (1 John 5:19 HCSB).

Worldliness is the idolatrous worship of the things one lusts after that belong to this world. “Therefore, put to death whatever in you is worldly” (Col. 3:5 HCSB).

Things of this world cannot be considered inherently wrong or evil but can become so when not used in accordance with God’s word and/or when one exalts them to a position that belongs to God alone. For this reason, the world stands as a picture of corruption (2 Pet. 1:4).^[1]

Let’s choose something other than the world.

The world wants us to be a part of its dark agenda. It’s all around us. Self, pride, power, money, position—they are all touted as the goals of the age. If we aren’t careful, we will fall into the trap of doing nothing and finding ourselves engulfed by the world and all its trappings just like the house in the photo.

Instead, we are to allow Him to transform us by renewing our minds so that we are not conformed. God renews our minds by speaking to us. He speaks to us through His Word. But we must do something. We can’t just sit idly by and hope the worldly overgrowth tames itself. If we do nothing, we’ll be covered in a short amount of time. Way shorter than it took that forest to cover the house.

Are you actively allowing God to renew your mind? Or are you conforming to the world?

Today’s feature photo comes from a “photo-a-day” challenge I pursued several years ago. The photo inspires the topic. For me, the posts challenge my creativity, writing discipline, and dependence on God for His message. My prayer is that you find hope in God’s Word, and that you’ll share your hope with others.

^[1] Brand, C. (2003). World. In C. Draper, A. England, S. Bond, E. R. Clendenen, & T. C. Butler (Eds.), Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary (p. 1686). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.

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