Non-conformity of the Christian's Life

I had the opportunity to go away this past weekend and took it. While away my friend and I attended a Beachy Amish Mennonite church, such a blessing! It is one of the more conservative Beachy churches, and we both really enjoyed ourselves. So much that we even went back for their evening service, which happened to be a song service! Oh how I love to sing. Can't say I'm the greatest, but I do love to sing :) The lady I was sitting next to was surprised at how quick I picked up the tunes because I hadn't sang any of the songs they were singing before, and half of them had no music notes with the words, so it was a complete shot in the dark :)

Anyway, their morning service message was on non-conformity. I found this to be a wonderful message for me to listen to. So much so that I took notes (I do not remember the last time I took notes!). The minister said there are three main sub-sections of non-conformity.

1. Non-conformity of the heart
2. Non-conformity of our actions and speech
3. Non-conformity of our dress

There is scripture that supports all three of these sub-categories for non-conformity.

For non-conformity of the heart, read: Luke 16:15, John 17:14, Titus 2:14, James 4:4, 1 Peter 2:9, 1 John 2:15. Verses on what God thinks about "the world": Romans 8:5-14 (emphasis on verse 13).

There are seven different areas that fall under non-conformity of our actions and speech (according to the minister, you may think of more), they are:
1. Our obedience
2. A pure heart
3. Humility
4. Charity/love
5. Joy of the Lord
6. Integrity
7. Peace

As for non-conformity of our dress, his guidelines were as follows: It's not about fitting in, it's about looking and acting Godly.

Please remember, you will not get salvation through practicing non-conformity, that is strictly through your faith and belief in Jesus Christ our Lord, but this is an obedience issue.

With my writing out scripture, I have come across some of my favorite verses again :)

Philippians 4:6 (NKJV) - "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God"

Philippians 4:13 (NKJV) - "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me"

Philippians 4:19 (NKJV) - "And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus"

These verses speak so powerfully to me so I thought I would share them with you.

Blessings in Christ,