I want to share with you two simple object lessons you can use with your kids encourage them to think different.

And yes, I know it’s “think differently”.  But Apple made a bazillion dollars off of it’s “think different” ad campaign, so I’m sticking with it.

Anyway, we know that we live in a culture that is continually pressuring kids to conform to patterns of destruction, all in the name of “not conforming.”

Here’s a simple little illustration i did with the teens in our church, using two well know objects that you likely already have in your house.  If your teens are at CFBC and experienced the illustrations, ask them to repeat and explain them for you!

Romans 12:2 tells us

 “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

There are two important terms in this verse:

• Conform: to be pressed from the outside into a certain mold or pattern.
• Transform: to be changed from within.

These concepts are key at EVERY age, and the same illustration works for children as well as teens.  It’s the discussion that will be a little different.

Illustration 1:  Play Doh

The reason we love Play Do is because we can conform it to so many different images.  How do we do this?  We apply pressure from the outside.  We manipulate it.  We tear it apart.  The more we pressure and squeeze it, the easier it is to manipulate.

But Play Doh isn’t ever anything but Play Doh.  It doesn’t create any lasting work.  It can get brittle and dry and then is worthless to society.  As soon as Play Doh doesn’t serve our purpose, we discard it.

This is a perfect image of conforming to this world.  We are pressure, influenced, and squeezed.  In the end, we are whatever the world wants us to be, until it’s done with us, and then we are discarded.

The Bible calls us to not be conformed to this world.  As you sit and talk with your kids (even teenagers) and manipulate your Play Doh, ask what different factors pressure them.  Where are they tempted to conform to the world?  What do they think is the end result.  Encourage them to chose to not be Play-Doh

Illustration 2: A Glass, a soda, and water

To illustrate transformation, pour a nice tall glass of dark soda.  The glass represents us.  The soda represents what we put inside us.  Based on choices we make, things we experience, and the world we consume, we’ve become filled up with sticky, calorie filled darkness.  Coke may taste sweet, but we all know it’s wrecking us on the inside.  Transformation happens from the inside as well.  Romans 12:2 says that we are transformed by renewing our mind.  We renew our mind with God’s Word, Worship, Prayer, and Fellowship.  When we renew our minds, slowly the darkness inside us becomes light.

A little bit each day, that which is unhealthy is replaced in us by that which is pure.  (This is not a salvation illustration, but a sanctification one).  If you pour long enough, you eventually transform the entire contents of the glass.

This is what God calls us to do each day!  A continuous habit of renewables will transform us from the inside out!

 

There you have it.  Two simple, powerful illustrations that drive home the difference between conforming and transforming.  You want your children to think different.  Give them the tools to think different.

Key questions I would ask my children along the way:

• Can you explain to me the difference between conforming and transforming?
• What are some areas where you feel like people are trying to get you to conform?  How do you feel about them?  What can you do about them?
• What are some habits we can commit to to transform from the inside out?
• What do we think might be the result of transforming from the inside out?

This is a simple win.  Take it!