Wrong Way on a One-Way

Last weekend, Kim and I took our daughter Caroline to the Georgia Aquarium in downtown Atlanta. She really loves when we go there and enjoys seeing all of the different types of fish and animals the aquarium has. After you pass by the ticket booth outside and enter into the actual building, you walk down a wide hallway that leads into the “aquarium atrium” [try saying that three times fast]. The hallway is lined on both sides with glass tanks of fish all swimming continuously in the same direction, as if they were on some type of one-way street. In the past, I’ve never stopped for very long to watch them swim. This time, Caroline was fixated on them, so I had a chance to pay a little closer attention to them for a minute. As I stood there, I was watching for one particular thing: would there be a fish brave enough to swim the opposite direction in the tank?

It wasn’t long before one little fish caught my eye. He turned around about halfway down the tank and started swim against the other fish coming his way. As he made some progress, others turned to follow him. They wouldn’t make it very far before the pressure of the oncoming “traffic” became too much to handle, and they reverted back to the normal direction along with the rest. I watched this happen time and time again – one of them would finally decide to break the trend only to succumb to the resistance that it faced. And who could blame them? Going the opposite of everybody else was no easy task, especially in a tank as full of fish as these were. It meant bumping into others, trying to find their way, and maybe even ignoring the evil fish looks that were cast their way.

Then it happened. Whereas all the fish were going from left to right, one started from the right end headed left. As he went further and further, he would pick up one or two more fish that followed him. Eventually, the ones behind him broke off, but the leader stayed the course. Through all the pressure and all the fighting and all of the opposition, he managed to make it the entire length of the tank going the opposite way.

This scene got me to thinking about another verse that is painted on a wall out in the Youth House: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” (Romans 12:2) If we were to picture the world as a road, it too would be a one-way street, with those on it headed straight for destruction and eternal torment in hell. Paul pointed out in this verse that there is a better way to live. He told us to be transformed, not conformed. At first they may sound the same, but believe me, there is a big difference. Conformity is to give in and just do what everybody else is doing; transformation is about being different and being that new creation that I mentioned yesterday.

If we are living for Christ and sharing Him through our lives, we will definitely be going against the current of society. And there is no doubt in my mind that every step in that journey will be hard and seem like you are going uphill. When you set out to live for Christ, you’ll be on fire and ready to change the world. Chances are that this zealous feeling fades before long, and following the Lord isn’t as easy as you’d imagined. Since most everyone else is on a different path in life, you’re headed in a totally opposite direction.

You can count on times coming when you’ll want to quit, times when it just doesn’t seem worth it, times when you just don’t care anymore. Knowing these feelings are coming helps so that you can be ready for them. When you do encounter the temptation to quit and just follow the group 'cause it's just so easy, think of the fish in the tank. Don't fade out under the pressure like that first group. Stay the course; be the one who remains faithful to God no matter the cost. The key is to avoid blending in with the world, and be transformed in Christ.

But how do we make this transformation? Paul said it is done through the “renewing of your mind.” In a nutshell, aligning your life into God’s plan isn’t necessarily all about changing what you do, but just as much about adjusting how you think. Once you became a Christian, maybe you thought something along these lines: "Now that I'm saved, I probably shouldn't watch those kind of movies/listen to that kind of music/hang out with those friends anymore." And there's a great chance that you're right in making that decision, but that's only half the battle. The important thing is, do you know WHY? Is it because that's not what you think a saved person should do, or not how you've seen a Christian friend act? If you change because of some reason you make up on your own, then you are setting yourself up for a hard fall back into the world's ways.

The real reason for changing, one that we need to grasp if we are going to make a lasting transformation in our lives, is that we are now entrusted to live as Christ would. We are saying goodbye to our old self and our old way of doing things, and beginning the lifelong process of molding ourselves into what God desires for us. True, it may very well feel like going the wrong way on a one-way street, but it is the only way to live out God’s plan and will for each of our lives in the fullest way possible.