“Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed, by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.”
– Romans 12:2

Dick Fosbury turned the track and field world on its ear during the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. For the first time, millions of viewers watched in amazement as the high jump technique known as the “Fosbury Flop” was unveiled. Using his back-first method, Fosbury won the gold medal in dramatic fashion with a jump of 7 feet, 4 ¼ inches. While Fosbury’s style was unorthodox, high jump rules simply say that athletes must jump off one foot on takeoff. There is no rule stipulating how a competitor crosses the bar, so long as they go over it. What seemed like a radical idea was soon being duplicated and became the preferred style for high jumpers everywhere. In the 1972 Olympics, twenty-eight of the forty competitors used the “Fosbury Flop”. By 1980, thirteen of the sixteen Olympic finalists used it. Of the thirty-six Olympic medalists in the high jump from 1972-2000, thirty-four used the method, and today, it is the most popular high jumping technique of elite competitors. What seemed like a radical idea, is now the accepted way of doing things.

The world will try to squeeze us into its own mold. Nonconformists are not welcomed. Jesus Christ came into the world and demonstrated a radical way to live. His sacrifice on the Cross delivered us from the world and its way of doing things. As believers, the world is crucified to us and we are crucified to the world. If we love the world more than we love God, we are an enemy of God. When we put our complete trust in Jesus Christ, our lives are transformed. We begin to think Godly thoughts, we seek His guidance and we begin to understand His love as we live in His will. This radical approach modeled by Jesus Christ over three thousand years ago is still available today. Do you believe it? Are you living it?

Heavenly Father, thank You for showing us a radical way to live our lives through Your Son Jesus Christ. Today, help me to seek Your ways and not the ways of this world. Amen.