…Sometimes, to better understand where you are going, you need to look back on where you are coming from…

Often times I forget the bondage from which I was freed. The bondage masked under pleasure. The bondage masked under ‘societal norm’. The bondage masked under capitalism. The bondage masked under liberalism. The bondage which by any other name, still doesn’t taste as sweet.

My motto used to be “I’m a free spirit, I can do whatever I want”. But little did I know that I couldn’t do whatever I wanted in the name of ‘wanting to fit in but stand out’; in the name of ‘acceptance’.

Whether we realize or not, we conform. No one likes to admit it, but everyone does it. No one likes to seem like it, but we all crave it. No one wants to be reminded of it, but we all seek it out. Conformity and acceptance. So, ask yourself this, what am I really conforming to? Who am I forming into?

My new motto now is;

“I’m a FREED spirit, I can do whatever HE wants”

My motto has changed. My ‘norm’ has changed. My standard has changed. You see, I desire day by day to conform to being more like Christ. It ain’t easy, not at all. There are times my first motto seems to be pulling hard on me; but, the freedom that lies in this understanding, in this choice, in Christ, transcends any freedom I could have hoped to attain any other way.

‘I am freed in Christ, so now I am living free’, for I have come to “know the truth, and the truth has set me free.” (John 8:32).

So, I ask myself this again and again as I reflect, what am I really conforming to? Who am I transforming into?

Do not be conformed to this world, but continuously be transformed by the renewing of your minds so that you may be able to determine what God's will is - 
what is proper, pleasing, and perfect.
- Romans 12:2