Chapter 1 A Consecrated Life - Far Eastern Bible College

of men? Which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will
worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body; not in any
honour to the satisfying of the flesh.
Even today, do not be surprised that there are still some people who
will judge you and say things like, “If you want to be really spiritual,
then you must stop eating meat, and never drink coffee or tea again; you
must sell off your television and your computer, you must never
celebrate Christmas and Easter because they have pagan origins; you
must not own any property or have any bank accounts.” The list of
forbidden things and activities goes on and on.
But these are not at all the kind
of things that are meant by the words
“be not conformed to this world.”
What these words mean is that we
should not be following the worldly
trends and patterns of this age, the
worldly philosophy of life that
surrounds us on every side. And the
worldly philosophy of life is based on
one main purpose: the advancement
of self. You will often hear people
say, when faced with something new,
“What’s in it for me?” You will often
see people trying to get ahead of
others, grabbing things before
someone else gets them, hanging on to everything they have got no
matter what it costs in terms of hurt or pain to someone else.
In Singapore, it has become a publicly acknowledged fact that to
Singaporeans, life means obtaining the 5 C’s which are: “Car,”
“Condominium,” “Cash,” “Credit card” and “Country Club
membership.”
In a society that has values like these, you will always feel under
pressure to conform. But consecration means resisting that urge to
conform to them, even if it means that you might be embarrassed before
your friends and colleagues who do not know Christ. And because we
14 A Consecrated Life