Conformity

On my flight out to Florida last Thursday, I was sitting in the very back of the plane. One of the things that I got to do, was watch people coming back and forth to visit the restroom and stretch their legs. (I like watching people interact in public)

As I was watching people interact, one of the things that caught my eye was how people move up and down the aisles. It doesn't really matter if a person is a regular flier or someone on their first flight. There is a natural instinct that when you pass someone on a plane, most people naturally turn their backs to each other so they pass one another back to back. This is something that seems to be a learned response, instead of something that is an inherent trait... of course, that is my opinion. The children don't seem to follow this trait, and so it seems that as we mature and learn about people's private space, we adapt; much like when standing in an elevator and everyone faces the same direction. You can read more about elevators here.

As I watched, I began wondering if many of the things we do as Christians are inherent traits or learned traits. I think that sometimes it is really easy to take a learned trait and "Christianize" it, and we quickly begin thinking that this is something inherent of Christian... when in reality we are pushing our own habits on to God's Word.

I challenge you to begin looking at everything you do within your religion and begin asking yourself, why are you doing that? Is it what God wants or what you want?