7/21/2026 charitys podcast

Living in This World… But Not of It

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 1:00

Welcome friend. I am so glad you are here today. Whether you're driving down the road, sitting on your porch with a cup of coffee, folding laundry, or simply taking a few quiet moments to yourself. Thank you for inviting me into your day. My prayer is always the same. When our conversation is over, I pray you'll feel just a little closer to Jesus than you do right now. So go ahead and grab your Bible if you have it. Today we're going to spend some time in a passage that has been one of the most important verses in my own walk with Christ. For many seasons of my life, this wasn't just another verse I had highlighted. It became my life verse. It became the truth I clung to when everything around me felt uncertain. There were days I repeated it over and over because I needed the reminder that God's truth, not my circumstances, would have the final word. And that verse is Romans 12 2. It says, Do not conform 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. Let's pray before we begin. Father, thank you for your word. Thank you that even when the world around us changes, you never do. Open our hearts today, renew our minds, help us hear your voice above every other voice competing for our attention. Draw us closer to Jesus during the neck next few moments together. In his name I pray. Amen. So can I ask you a question today? Who has been discipling your mind this week? I don't know that we ask ourselves that question nearly enough. Think about your week. How much time have you spent scrolling social media? Watching the news, listening to podcasts, reading comments, watching television. None of those things are automatically wrong, but every voice we repeatedly listen to is teaching us something. Every voice is discipling us. The question isn't whether you're being discipled, the question is who is doing the discipling? Because if we spend three hours listening to culture and five minutes listening to God's word, why should I be surprised when I begin thinking more like the culture than I do like Jesus? The truth is we were never called to blend in. Jesus didn't save us so we could comfortably fit into the culture around us. He called us to be salt. He called us to be light. Salt doesn't become like the food. It changes it. And light doesn't become darkness, it shines into it. We are called to live in this world without becoming of this world. Can I tell you something that I've learned? We don't drift toward Jesus. We drift away from him. No one accidentally becomes more like Christ. We become more like Jesus on purpose. One prayer at a time, one chapter of Scripture at a time, one act of obedience at a time, one surrendered thought at a time. That's why Romans twelve two has meant so much to me over the years. Paul doesn't tell us to simply try harder, he says to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. Because every action begins as a thought, every habit begins as a thought, every compromise begins as a thought, every act of obedience begins as a thought. The greatest battle you'll ever fight isn't first around you, it's within you. The enemy knows that if he can shape the way you think, he'll eventually shape the way you live. But God knows that if he renews the way you think through his word, he'll transform the way you live from inside out. That's why spending time in Scripture means everything. It's simply not just checking off the religious box, it's allowing the creator of your mind to reshape the way you see the world. I honestly don't think Satan's greatest strategy is always open rebellion. Sometimes it's distraction to keep us busy, to keep us entertained, to keep us offended, to keep us anxious, to keep us exhausted, to keep us comparing anything that slowly pulls our eyes away from Jesus. Because conforming rarely happens overnight. It happens one compromise, one excuse, one conversation, one small decision at a time. No one wakes up intending to drift away from Jesus. Drifting happens because we stop intentionally moving towards him. There was a season in my own life when everything around me felt like it was falling apart. I didn't understand why God had allowed certain things to happen. I was hurt, confused, and broken. And if I'm honest, there were moments when my feelings seemed more believable than God's promises. Maybe you've been there. Maybe you're there today. You open your Bible, but circumstances are screaming. They're just screaming louder and louder than God's promises. Maybe. That's exactly why Romans twelve two became so precious to me. God wasn't asking me to pretend life wasn't hard. He wasn't asking me to ignore the pain. He was asking me not to let hardship become my teacher. His word be my teacher. His word would be my teacher. His truth would shape my thinking, not my pain, not my fear, not my disappointment. And can I tell you something else that I've learned? There was a time in my life when I desperately wanted God to change my circumstances. But looking back now, I realized he was far more interested in changing me. I wanted an immediate rescue. He wanted lasting transformation. I wanted him to remove the storm. Today I can honestly say I'm thankful, so thankful. He didn't answer every prayer the way I wanted him to. Because if he had changed my circumstances without changing my heart, I would have missed a greater miracle. One of the biggest questions Christians are asking today. How do I love people without compromising God's truth? Maybe you've wrestled with that question. How do I love my family member who believes differently than I do? My co-worker, my neighbor, my friend, the world often tells us we have to choose. Either compromise truth so everyone feels accepted or stand for the truth in such a harsh way that people feel condemned. But when I read the gospels, I don't see Jesus choosing either extreme. I see someone who was. As John tells us, he was full of grace and truth. Not half grace, not half truth, fully both. The culture often tells us that love means agreement, but Scripture never says that. If agreement were required for love, Jesus could never have loved us while we were still sinners. Romans five eight reminds us, but God demonstrates his own love for us in this. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Jesus loved us before we repented, before we changed, before we understood who he truly was and is. His love came first. That doesn't mean he approved of our sin. It means his love reached out and the reached reached us in the middle of it. I've had people in my own life whom I love deeply, but whose choices I couldn't support. Loving them didn't mean pretending sin wasn't harmful. Standing on God's word didn't mean I stopped loving them. Those two things are not opposites. Real love isn't silent while someone walks toward destruction. Real love points people to one who can forgive, restore, heal, and transform. One of my favorite examples is found in John chapter 8. The religious leaders drag a woman caught in adultery before Jesus. Everyone around her holding stones. Everyone is ready to condemn. Jesus kneels and begins writing in the dirt. One by one, the accusers leave. Then Jesus looks at her and says, Neither do I condemn you. Can you imagine hearing those words? But he doesn't stop there. He continues Go and sin no more. Grace and truth, compassion and holiness, acceptance of the person, a call away from sin. That's the Jesus we follow. Somewhere along the way we've confused acceptance with approval. Jesus accepted everyone who came to him. He invited everyone close, but he never approved of everything they were doing. Instead, he loved them enough to tell them the truth that the truth could set them free. That's our calling too. Not to win arguments, not to prove we're right, but to represent Jesus so faithfully that people experience both his compassion and his truth. Can I ask you another question? When people walk away from the conversation with you, do they experience both the compassion of Jesus and the truth of Jesus? Because if they experience, if all they ever experience is the truth without the love, we've missed his heart. But if all they experience is love without the truth, we've also missed his heart. But if all they experience the love, I want you to hear this. Without the truth, we've missed his heart. Jesus never asked us to choose between grace and truth. He embodied both. Friend, how much time have you spent this week listening to the world compared to listening to God? That question challenged me too. Sometimes I realize I've spent thirty minutes reading comments or scrolling or watching TikTok and only a few minutes reading scripture. No wonder my peace begins to disappear. No wonder my anxiety grows louder and louder. No wonder my perspective starts changing. The voices we feed become the voices we follow. So before we close today, I want to invite you into something a little different. Before you turn off this podcast, before you move on to the next minute, before you move on to the next thing in your schedule, would you sit squiet, would you sit quietly with the Lord for just one minute? Ask him one simple question. Lord, where have I slowly begun conforming to this world? Then don't rush. Don't rush it to answer to yourself. Just sit quietly. And if the Holy Spirit begins something to bring something to your mind. Listen to Jesus. And friend, if you're listening today and you're discouraged because you realize you've been conforming more than you wanted to, don't hear condemnation in today's conversation. Romans twelve two is an invitation, not an accusation. God isn't standing over you waiting to shame you. He's standing beside you, inviting you to let Him renew your mind. That's the beauty of the gospel. Jesus doesn't just forgive us, He transforms us. Conviction always points us back to Jesus. Condemnation tells us to run from Him. If what you're sensing today is drawing you closer to Christ, that's the loving work of the Holy Spirit. Don't resist it. Lean into it because transformation doesn't happen in one gap or one giant leap. It happens one surrendered step at a time. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for loving us so much that you never leave us where we are. Thank you that you are patient with us even when we wonder and faithful to call us back to you again and again. Lord, we confess that there are times when we've allowed the voices of the world to become louder than your voice. We've listened to fear more than faith, culture more than scripture, our feelings more than your promises. Forgive us. Renew our minds today. Help us to see people the way you see them. Help us to love with both grace and truth, just as Jesus did. Give us the courage to stand firmly on your word while never losing compassion of Jesus. Holy Spirit, reveal anything in our lives that doesn't reflect Jesus. And as you reveal it, remind us that your conviction is always an invitation to come closer, not to run away in shame. As we go into this new week, help us to choose your truth over the world's opinions, your peace over our fears, and your will over our own. May our lives shine in a way that points others to Jesus. We love you, Lord, and we thank you for never giving up on us. It's in the precious name of Jesus we pray. Amen. Friend, I'm going to leave you today with Romans 12 2, one more time. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. The world doesn't need Christians who simply fit in. It needs followers of Jesus whose kindness reflects him, whose convictions reflect him, whose compassions reflect him, whose hope reflects him. And remember this, the world doesn't change us all at once. It disciples us one thought at a time. But Jesus transforms us one surrendered thought at a time. Thank you for spending time with me today. Until next week. Keep opening your Bible, keep drawing close to Jesus, because every conversation is an invitation to come a little closer to him. Until next week.