Transformation Or Domestication

Yesterday on outreach we were talking about the term domestication.

"Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him. This is my rule in all the churches... Each one should remain in the condition in which he was called." - 1 Corinthians 7:17, 20 ESV

"This is what I mean, brothers: the appointed time has grown very short. From now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none, and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no goods, and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away." - 1 Corinthians 7:29-31 ESV

The world has cycles. It reinvents itself in cycles. But a believer is called in a certain condition. Faith in Christ is that condition. If we compromise in the cycles we start to deviate and become conformed to the world.

"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." - Romans 12:2 ESV

"I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord. But the married man is anxious about worldly things, how to please his wife, and his interests are divided. And the unmarried or betrothed woman is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit. But the married woman is anxious about worldly things, how to please her husband. I say this for your own benefit, not to lay any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord." - 1 Corinthians 7:32-35 ESV

In marriage we see a great example of what can happen. Men and women can either be transformed or conformed.

A wife needs a husband with a single eye. She need a man who will lay down his life for her. A man in the world but not of the world.

A man is convicted by the 'good conversation' of his Godly wife. He sees Christ in her. He sees a devotion to God as the one who has won her by grace. She is someone who can not be easily manipulated. She is someone with inner strength who he is privileged to cover and he sees how she suffers at times because of his lack of covering. She makes him want to rise to the occasion. That is what she does for everyone through her life of love.

Marriage outside of God can be domesticating but by design it is anything but that. It is the picture of a relationship where individuals become more than they could be alone. There is a synergy that reveals God as the third cord woven into the mix that provides a strength beyond what the two could ever have alone.

We resist domestication by functioning in transformation. The cycles of the world do not have to toss us around if we remain grounded in the word with eyes fixed on Christ and His unchanging priority systems. Relationship can assist us in growing strong and tall as trees planted by the rivers of water. We don't have to lean to a different light source. We can soak in the sun and live fruitful lives.

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