Most of us never decided to be shaped by the world. It happened quietly: a scroll here, an ad there, a comparison, a habit. Then one day we notice that our hopes, our worries and even our prayers sound a lot like everyone else’s.
That quiet shaping is exactly what Paul had in mind:
“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind…”
Romans 12:2 NKJV
So what is “the pattern of this world” today? And what does God offer in its place?
(For the whole verse, phrase by phrase, see What Does Romans 12:2 Mean? (opens in a new tab))
What “This World” Means
The apostle John describes it plainly:
“Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever.”
1 John 2:15–17 NLT
“The world” here is a way of living that leaves God out: wanting what feels good, wanting what we see, and finding our worth in what we achieve and own. It’s a pattern, and patterns are learned.
The good news is that patterns can also be replaced.
Four Patterns of This World, and God’s Better Way
I’m Daniel Lafleur, founder of Renewing Your Mind Discipleship Ministry. In my book, Renewing Your Mind: Living Life Intentionally, I name some of the places where our culture presses hardest. Each comes with a promise about what will make us happy, loved or secure. And in each one, God offers something better.
1. Use people, love stuff → Love people, use stuff
As I put it in the book:
“Our culture encourages us to love stuff and use people, but God wants us to love people and use stuff.”
Daniel Lafleur, Renewing Your Mind: Living Life Intentionally (opens in a new tab)
You can see the world’s version in a phone that gets more attention at dinner than the people at the table, or a relationship valued for what it gets us. God’s way turns it around. Things are tools; people are the treasure.
“Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.”
Matthew 6:20–21 NLT
2. Happiness from things → Joy from knowing God
The world promises that the next purchase, upgrade or experience will finally satisfy. In the book I describe the contrast this way:
“God implores us to find joy (internal) which comes from the knowledge of Him (internal), whereas modern culture would have us attempt to find happiness (external) by the accumulation of things (external).”
Most of us know how this goes. The new thing feels wonderful for a week, then fades, just as John said the world’s offers would. Joy that comes from knowing God lasts, because its source doesn’t change.
3. Love as a feeling → Love that comes from God
Our culture often treats love as something we fall into and out of. In the book I put it like this:
“Culture has managed to redefine what love means to us. Today many people view love as a feeling. In other words, it has become transactional, i.e. I love you if I can continue to get whatever it is I want or need from you.”
God’s love is different. It’s given, and it’s chosen, even on the days the feelings are quiet:
“Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God…”
1 John 4:7 NLT
In a marriage, a friendship or a church, choosing to love when it isn’t easy is one of the clearest ways God’s love sets us apart from the world’s pattern.
4. Comfort as a right → Gratitude for what we’ve been given
This one is personal. For most of my life, I didn’t have a thankful heart. Here’s how I described it in the book:
“It would appear as though at this early age I had come to believe that life should be continuously fun, fair, easy, and comfortable despite never living that reality. In the absence of that ever materializing in my life, I grew increasingly discontented.”
I had taken blessings, and even miracles, for granted. I’ve come to wonder whether our culture conditions us to believe comfort is something we not only desire but deserve.
God’s pattern is gratitude, and it’s a choice we can make in any circumstance:
“Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.”
1 Thessalonians 5:18 NLT
Gratitude was one of the first places I saw my own mind begin to change.
In the World, Not of It
Saying no to the world’s pattern doesn’t mean pulling away from people. On the night before the cross, Jesus prayed for His followers:
“I’m not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one. They do not belong to this world any more than I do.”
John 17:15–16 NLT
“Just as you sent me into the world, I am sending them into the world.”
John 17:18 NLT
We stay right where God has placed us, at work, at home and in our neighbourhoods, and we live by a different pattern there. That difference is often what makes people curious about the One we follow.
The Other Half of the Verse
“Do not be conformed” is only half of Romans 12:2. The other half is the promise: be transformed by the renewing of your mind. We let go of the world’s pattern because God is forming something far better in us.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
