I appeal to you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
For by the grace given to me I bid every one among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith which God has assigned him.
Romans 12: 1-3
Many people pull their children out of school and begin to homeschool and they cite Romans 12:2 as a favourite scripture. Oh, I don’t have a problem with that per se, but have you ever noticed how we can soon start to conform to a whole nother system or set of rules – the Christian homeschool way of doing things?
You know what I mean, come on admit it. You might visit a forum and realise that no one there fesses up to watching science fiction and you don’t want to be the one to open your mouth and dump your family in it. Or a slightly different angle might be that you doggedly get out of bed at 5.30am every day to do devotions before the children awake and you believe that this is the key to being a successful Christian homeschool mum? Maybe if everyone else did this, they wouldn’t have their problems eh? 😉
Ah…God wants so much more than that for us! Just as he doesn’t want us to conform to the world, He doesn’t want us to conform to a system, a set of activities or walking by the rules. He does want us to be transformed…
What’s the difference?
“Conformed’ means to assume an outward expression that does not come from within. It is basically to masquerade, to put on a mask. If we are doing ‘something’ for Christ then it is possible it is an act of conformity.
“Transformation” is different in that it is a process…an outward expression that does come from within! Did you know that the Greek word underlying the word transformed is the verb, ‘metaorphoo’. Yup, from that we get the English words ‘metamorphose and metamorphosis.’ The word of God, the Living Christ transforms us from the inside out. (James 1:21,22).
So what do we need to do? Surely we need to do something?
All we need to do is to soak in, breathe in, be immersed in the Word of God. The word will renew our minds and transform us, from the inside out!
When we stop trying to conform and instead yield ourselves to Christ, He expresses Himself through our daily lives. This is the metamorphic process – this is a truly radical transformation. Once we experience this ongoing transformation in our lives, why would we want to substitute our freedom in Christ to become bound or try and conform to another system, method or way of doing things? God wants so much more than that!
You think the learning-at-home journey is radical? It is nothing compared to being transformed by the renewing of our mind, according to His good, pleasing and perfect will.
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
(English Standard Version)
Did you write this for me? 😉
LOL, I know you didn’t but this is exactly what I needed to *hear* this morning. Not concerning homeschooling, but everything else in my life. Looking forward to Part 2.
love
Amanda
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Hey, wait just a minute.
Does this mean I don’t have to wear ankle length homemade floral print dresses, with waist-length hair (in a bun), while existing on lentils and juiced greens and taking nature walks every afternoon?
You mean I can be a homeschooler without all that?
Even if I haven’t ever read “the angel in the marble”?
Cool! 😀
Great points my friend. It should be recommended reading for all new homeschoolers…
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Hey, hey, hey!!!! What’s wrong with “Angel in the Marble”? And besides that, I even went so far as thinking that floral dresses were drawing too much attention to myself – plain colours for me! (Till my husband stepped in and told me he didn’t like me looking like I was attending a funeral every day of the week.)
LOL! I don’t know what’s wrong with “Angel in the Marble”, because…..I haven’t read it. (Gasp!)
I try not to read books that are a part of homeschool culture. NOT because I think there will be nothing worthwhile in them – certainly not. But because before I started homeschooling, I researched, and researched, and researched. I looked at every style of homeschooling, philosophy, educational practice etc., until my mind reeled with information, and people who knew me feared entering my presence, lest they had to listen to a summary of the last thing I’d learned about education.
Once I made a decision about the direction I wanted to follow for homeschooling, I resisted the urge to continue looking for the “perfect” thing. As most people who write about homeschooling write from a bias of their own philosophy (obviously), I would be left doing the very thing you were talking about above. Comparing, maybe being convinced something was a good idea, probably being swayed from the decision I’d made which was based on what was best for our family, in our circumstances.
The dresses? I can see you in a billowing, ankle length, plain navy frock. e ee ee. he hee hee. (rumble, rumble) HEE HEE HA HAAA HAA!
Oh, pardon me. I will just get back up off the floor. (It crushes my dress so when I roll around like that 😀 😀 😉 )
beyondbluestockings´s last blog post..Truly Delightful Truffles
Gotchya! I think I’d like to start homeschooling afresh *now*. There is so much to learn about…then again, maybe not. You know my brain gets ferhoodled very easily.
Billowing? Navy? Ankle length? Girl, just go wash that mouth out with soap. I rarely get out of my jeans! (I know you know that) LOL