By Linda Tancs
John the Baptist identified himself as the voice of one crying aloud in the wilderness (John 1:23). Do you sometimes feel like a voice of one? Are you a non-conformist? John certainly was; he lived alone in the desert, adorned in camel’s hair, eating locusts and wild honey (Matthew 3:3-4).
John had the privilege—and grace—of not being seduced by majority rule or peer pressure. In our modern day it may sometimes seem easier to conform. We’re afraid to stand alone, worried about being set aside. Paul’s first-century dictate not to be conformed to this world may seem impossible, even dangerous, in today’s society (Romans 12:2). But the more we conform, the less able we are to discern and follow the righteous path, to be imitators of God (Ephesians 5:1-2). We run the risk of following the masses in doing evil (Exodus 23:2).
As a teenage motto reminded me years ago, stand for something or you’ll fall for anything.