Re:Verse passage – James 5:1-6 (day seven)
Did you think that peer pressure ended when you left your teens and entered adulthood? It never stopped, it just changed vehicles. Instead of popularity in school, it became standing in the community. Instead of the words of a bully in the lunch line, it became the condescending look from the other moms in the pick up line. Instead of the gossip in the locker room, it became the gossip around the water cooler. No matter where we are at in life, there is pressure to conform to be more like those around us.
I imagine the wealthy Christians in the first century were much like you and me. I doubt they set out to marginalize the poor. I imagine they were “keeping up with the Joneses” and just trying to maintain their social status. In doing so, they conformed to be like any other rich person, lording their status at the expense of the laborers. Their conformity came at a cost.
Romans 12:2 “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind…” The only conformity a believer should experience is conformity into the likeness of Christ.
