Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. – Romans 12:2 (NIV)

A gob of hot, molten glass drops into a mold.  A plunger comes down squeezing the soft glass into the spaces between it and the mold.  What shape it will take?  It depends upon the mold.  What purpose will it serve?  It depends upon whether the mold forms wine glasses, iced tea glasses, or jars.  The final nature of the glass is determined by the mold.

God’s pattern for our lives is similar.  What shape will you be?  What purpose will you serve?  It depends upon whether you conform to this world or are transformed by God.

Even as pressure from a plunger forces glass to conform to the shape of the mold that surrounds it, so this world threatens to mold us.  On the other hand, God desires a life for each of us that is molded by understanding his mercy and that offers everything to him in response (Romans 12:1).

Avoiding conformity to the wrong pattern does not necessarily mean doing the opposite of what the world does.  It certainly means thinking differently than the world at the most basic levels, however.  We don’t need to guess at what is right; God has spoken.  We don’t need to wish for the future; God has secured it in Jesus Christ.  The problem of humanity is sin; God has provided a solution.  In the end, all will be made right.

The Christian life is a process of being shaped by these truths within a community of fellow learners (see Romans 12:3-21; cf. Ephesians 4:20–24).  It is a life molded by God’s wisdom pressing us closer to the true prototype for humanity, Jesus Christ (Hebrews 1:3; 1 Corinthians 15:49).  It is a life of effort where we seek to discern God’s will (his good, pleasing, and perfect will) in the midst of a cultural consensus that presses upon us and attempts to shape us (Romans 12:2).

What shape will you be?  It depends upon the mold.  What purpose will you serve?  It depends upon whether you conform to the pattern of this world or you are transformed into the shape God has for you.

Consider God’s mercy in Jesus Christ.  Offer yourself wholly to him in response.

For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. — Romans 8:29 (NIV)