Ditching the Status Quo

By Yvonne

Romans 12:2 (ESV) tells us “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.” Whenever I do something, I think about this verse. Do I look like the world instead of looking like God? But before we keep going; what is the status quo? From my perspective, it’s being accepting of anything as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone. Pro-world and anti-God. Looking at it from my point of view, there’s a conflict. We aren’t supposed to be conformed, but we are supposed to be transformed by renewing our minds through the Word of God.

How can we live a godly life yet go with the status quo of the world?

James 4:4 (ESV) says “You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” Yikes! When we choose the status quo over God then we’re His enemy. We can’t have both worlds because God doesn’t want some of us; He wants all of us, every part of our lives. We can’t serve two masters so we have to choose. Will we ditch the status quo, or will we go with the world’s flow?

In words alone, it can be quite easy to ditch the status quo, but it’s our actions that will

separate us. Taking time out of the day to spend with God in prayer and in His word will transform our minds. The way we live our lives shouldn’t be “How close can I get to the edge and still be a Christian?” but it should be “How close can I get to God so I can stay away from that edge?”. When we spend time with God and close out the world we stray far away from that edge.

We should be so sold out for God that the status quo is non-existent to us because we’re so focused on Jesus. We’re so focused on hurting someone’s feelings and offending someone by anything that goes against the grain, but the only thing we should be focused on is being salt and a light in this world.

It’s not easy ditching the status quo because we are human. It’s like a workout, you know

it’s good for you, but you hate doing it until you get into a routine. My mom always tells me “It’s only hard to follow Christ when you aren’t pursuing a relationship with Him”. It’s true. It might be hard to get into it at first, but the Bible tells us that we can do anything through Christ, and that the joy of the Lord is our strength.

You might not be the most popular person for ditching the status quo but that’s not what God calls us to. Are you ready to ditch the status quo?

Yvonne, 16 years old, has a desire to see God do great things too, through and for her, this generation and the ones to follow. She is a junior in high school and also participates in running start at Spokane Community College. She has aspirations to attend Howard University but is willing to wait on what God has for her. She recently started a job as a barista. She serves at her local church with the youth as a media relations person and is involved with bridging the gap with the youth and the church’s women’s ministry. She is the younger generations ministry coordinator. She has a heart to see others reach their potential in Christ as well as finding their identity in Him.