Romans 12: 1-2

Fiona Bridges

Sausages! Back in Australia our whole culture seems to revolve around sausages and BBQ's. 'Bang a snag on the Barbie'. I'm sure you've heard it before.and you have to admit, there is nothing quite like the smell of a sausage sizzling on the BBQ. But have you ever really thought about what is inside a sausage! The packet usually says they are beef or pork, but when you look on the contents list there is usually a whole load of other things in there as well. Like fat and offal. I guess they just wouldn't sell as well if they had 'offal' labelled all over them.

Anyhow, the point is; if you were to squeeze out the meat from a sausage and look at it (give it a go, it's quite an experience!) what you would see in front of you would probably bear little or no resemblance to a piece of steak, a cut of lamb or a slice of pork.

You see, in the sausage making process they take a piece of meat, mince it up, add some other off cuts, mix everything together, squish all that meaty paste into the sausage skin and pump out a string of fat little sausages, each one exactly the same as the last.

If you think about, sometimes in life, the media and peer pressure can be a bit like a sausage machine. You see, God created all of us uniquely with our own characters and gifting, but life seems to put this pressure on us to all be exactly the same. It tries to get us to mix into our lives worldly values, it tries to mince us up, dilute our faith and pump us out just the same as that guy or girl we saw in the latest magazine. One of my friends back in Australia calls it the sausage machine of life.

The question is, are we going to let ourselves be minced up, watered down and moulded by it, or are we going to rebel against the sausage machine?

It says in Romans 12: 2 that we should not conform to the ways of the world around us. I think that's just another way of saying rebel against the sausage machine. Easy to say, but how do we do it?

Well, the passage goes on to tell us that we can be transformed by the renewing of our minds. The way I see it, it's all about getting God's ways in our heads and giving the worlds ways the eviction.

Here are just a few ideas of things that might help you in that process.

1. Spend time letting God's words sink into your head and your heart by reading the Bible and giving yourself reminders about what it says.

2. Try and think about what you watch, what you listen to and what you spend your time reading. If it's feeding you stuff that is not helpful perhaps you need to watch, listen or read a bit less of it.

3. Ask the Holy Spirit to alert you when worldly stuff is attacking your head and ask for His help in filtering it through God's truth. That will help you to process the good stuff from the rubbish.

4. Have some good Christian mates around you who can encourage you in your walk with God and speak His truth into your life.

So, before you go off to whatever it is you have to do today, have a think through what is going on inside that head of yours. Are the voices of the world getting more air play than God's voice? If so, think through some ways of giving God's voice more space.

And remember. you are not a sausage!