According to Wikipedia, conformity is the act of matching attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors to group norms. This tendency to conform occurs in small groups and/or society as a whole, and may result from subtle unconscious influences, or direct and overt social pressure.
When Jesus entered Jerusalem, everyone cheered because someone or a couple of people started cheering and they conformed with them even though they did not fully know who Jesus was. Granted that Jesus deserved such welcome, it says a lot about our human nature. When the majority is in approval of something, we tend to join in and approve of whatever it is in approval.
There is, however, a danger in this type of human social phenomenon. That is, as individuals, when the norm influences our brain, we tend to push aside our own morals and our own beliefs. We start to doubt what is proven in our individual lives as already honed by that separate and unique relationship with God. Conformity can be perceived as a positive force because the majority agrees with it.
Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 13:5 “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? - unless indeed you are disqualified.” The bottom line is Jesus Christ in you. If He is not in you, then you are not saved.
A lot of people immerse themselves in the ACTIVITIES of the Church instead of immersing themselves in Jesus Christ. What I mean by that is they do everything that present themselves as Christians. They conform by going to church, with their whole family, week by week, they worship correctly and outwardly, they get caught up in the emotions of the moment and they had some kind of incredible experience that they may have thought to be significant but it had no connection to the truth or reality. They sing songs but have no idea what and who it is for. They don’t have a clue what calling themselves Christians is really about.
It is important to see the underlying reason of all the ritualistic acts associated with being a Christian and that is being Christ-like. I don’t mean being Christ because that is virtually impossible. What I mean is that when we praise God, we need to feel Him in our hearts, where our hearts are so filled with joy and gratitude for the sacrifice that is Jesus, the one who gave up His life for us underserving sinners and yet no matter how sinful we are He still loved us enough to die… TO DIE for us! Every time I think about the marvelous awesomeness He has done for me, individually, I can’t even begin to thank Him. He is my ticket to salvation, my ticket to all the wonderful future life waiting for me at the end of my earthly life. We’re talking eternity… that’s a very, very long time!
Until my next rant… LOVE ONE ANOTHER!!
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