#378 - The Bible: Romans 12:2,

We trace a personal shift from chasing comparisons to building a distinct creative lane, guided by Romans 12:2 and a simple daily practice to renew the mind. A short verse fuels a bigger decision: stop conforming to the industry’s patterns and craft work that can’t be compared.

• Romans 12:2 as a compass for creative choices
• resisting comparison and trend-chasing in comedy
• designing a lane where difference is the advantage
• early audience reactions to a new format and tone
• daily writing and simple faith habits to renew focus
• testing ideas to discern what truly works
• balancing purpose, career growth, and providing for family

Please check out that Bible verse

Chapters

• 0:00 Setting the Stage and Intent
• 1:17 Romans 12:2 Read Aloud
• 2:02 Meaning and Biblical Context
• 3:41 Personal Struggle in Comedy
• 4:30 Choosing Difference Over Competition
• 6:02 Audience Reaction and Affirmation
• 7:10 Daily Practice and Writing It Down
• 8:05 Faith Habits and Bible App Thoughts

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

What's up, everybody? All right. So, as uh I did last week, um a Bible verse. And again, this is not a biblical podcast. Um, I recently had some Bible verses that meant so much to me, and it wasn't on purpose. I just went to church in the last four weeks in a row, I um had something very specific that was going on, as I mentioned, always happens in the craziest way when you go to church. Um, and the message in the Bible verse was specific extremely uh to what I was dealing with and thinking and everything else. And just knowing that, hearing that, all right. Um, as I also mentioned in last week's podcast, a lot of things that Jesus would say was just drop the mic stuff. It was like one sentence of a lyric of a song that you could think about for a whole week, but you could think about it forever. That's a drop the mic kind of a statement. It's really just hard, simple, undebatable knowledge that somebody can say and just walk away from. You know, drop the mic like in a discussion, right? And um uh this week's Bible verse is actually Romans 12 2. And I'll say what it is and then the meaning and translation and uh what it meant to me and everything behind it. So Romans 12 2 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 prove what God's will is, his good, pleasing, and perfect will. Boom, drop the mic. Now, that's what it says. What is what does it mean? Okay. Um, there's biblically what it means than what it means to me. Biblically, it means that you shouldn't be um adopting the world's corrupt standards, okay, and instead allow God to transform your thinking by continually renewing their minds and his words and the Holy Spirit. And I'm actually reading this more in-depth translation as a non-biblical scholar, okay, online, but I heard it in church, right? Do not confront to this world. This is a call to resist the pressure of worldly cultures, values, and the ways of thinking that oppose God's teaching. It means not to be molded or shaped by ungodly customs or desires that are prevalent in society. Instead of conforming, believers are to undergo a fundamental change, a metamorphosis. This transformation happens internally as the mind is remade to align with God's thoughts and truth. It's a process of constant renewal, not a one-time event, as the world continues to try and influence believers' thoughts. As the mind is renewed, believers gain the ability to test or prove what God desires for them. They can then understand his good, pleasing, and perfect will and live according to it. This ability comes from the experiencing, from experiencing the benefits of living by God's standards, showing that his ways are best. It's really powerful. It's really powerful, okay? So reading it from the top again of what does it mean to me? Do not conform to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. You know, I was thinking as a uh stand-up comedian, um, I had been, I don't want to say struggling, but I've been like almost struggling lately between my thoughts and uh just different aspects of comedy, you know, trying to get ahead. All right. And um I recently had the revelation of instead of trying to be better than everybody else, think about it like this. If everybody was playing one sport and if everybody had all different types of support for entertainment or the best gyms, if it was a sport, like a physical sport or whatever it is, okay, and you had nothing, it's gonna be pretty challenging to be better than somebody else. However, my point is this if you do something that is different, you're in a you're in a sport, you're in a league all of your own. So I started thinking, I'm gonna start doing my comedy, okay, different. I'm it's I'm not gonna get into how, okay, because that's kind of complicated, but I'm gonna make sure that my comedy is a different type of comedy, and that's essentially what I've started. And the um the reaction I'm getting from the crowds and everything else is something completely new. I mean, it's it's a little laughing and everything, but it's so different compared to what everybody else does. And um as I was having these thoughts and this realization about being different when I went to church that Sunday and how I could be different, it was like positive affirmation. And to me, it felt like God was speaking to me, saying, you know, you're on the right track. Continue to do what you're doing and be different. Because again, if it was a competition of some sort, if some guy has a lot more experience, a better gym, and everything, it's not really fair standards, let alone if he had marketing and support and everything else. I get that, right? And if I try to be better than that guy, it's gonna be a pretty hard. All right. And I it's like they always say, be different. So be different is the short translation that I was already thinking. And I went to church, Romans 12, 2 is the Bible verse. It was the main Bible verse of the message for that day, which says, Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Be different. And when I heard that, first thing I did is I try to write it down. I didn't have anything to write it down, and all the Bible verse, excuse me, all the messages are online. So when I got home, I try to find out what it was. But when I finally found it was, I wrote it down. And I write it down every single day along with two other messages. So my point is this um what I just said may me may mean something different to you, to everybody. That's what it meant to me. And that's one of the reasons why I don't just really love going to church. Um, and I don't really read the Bible. Um, I don't want to say that I don't have time, but the time that I do have to really study, I give it to my pastor. Um I used to read the Bible, but I don't read it anymore, and I'm not making excuses. Um, but I I try to fill my day as much as I can possible with everything. And I'm still working on my new schedule because my my schedule has changed. So uh I was actually, ironically enough, thinking about at the very least, getting a Bible app on my phone so that I could look at the Bible uh or read it if I wanted to or learn learn more about something. Um but specifically dealing with uh church and Bible verses and stuff, man, it just meant so much to me. Um and it's it's making me not just think but really believe that um by doing things different, I'm in a competition all of all on my own. Okay, and I can't be compared if I'm if I'm different. So instead of trying to do something the way that somebody does better than them, okay, if I do something amazing but completely different, I'm gonna be a lot more noticed and that's gonna help me out. Um and I hope, I pray that at some point on a much bigger venue to a much bigger audience, I'll be explaining this story all over again because it would have happened. I would be um so much more recognized and known and stuff like that, which matters very little to me in real life, aside from the fact that uh to do stand-up comedy professionally, I have to have a wide, vast audience uh to um not just make happy and entertain, I get that, uh, but in return to to pay me so that I can live and support uh my loved ones. So uh with that being mentioned, I hope everybody has a beautiful day. Please check out that Bible verse. I'm Benjawell done. Remember, it's Romans 12, 2. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Wow. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is, his good, pleasing, and perfect will. So awesome. Alright, guys, I'm Ben Joel done. Check me out. Peace.