THE WALKING DEAD

From George Romero’s “Living Dead” movies in the 60s & 70s and Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” video in the 80’s to “Zombieland” in 2004 and now “The Walking Dead” and “Warm Bodies”, I’m not sure what the infatuation with zombies is all about. But I look around at our culture and I see a lot of “walkers”. I observe a lot of people who are walking around lifeless. They get up, they go to work or school, they come home, they go to bed, and they get up and do it again the next day. Their life seems meaningless, they can find no purpose for being alive so they just walk through life the best they can and deal with things as they come.

Jesus said He came so we could have life, and have it to the fullest. If we are discontent with our situation, we have to talk about decisions we made. But our beliefs are what determine our decisions, and our decisions determine outcomes. When we have a faulty belief system, we have unhappy outcomes. Culture says the only cure for the deadness is to run away. Find a new environment. Start over. Do things differently. But if you keep making decisions without changing your belief system, you will continue to have unhappy outcomes.

So many people have adopted the filter culture has about sex and live with tragic outcomes. Others see marriage through the culture filter and it’s no wonder over half of marriages end in divorce. We see money through the culture filter and find ourselves so materialistic and living beyond our means. But if you will give God’s filter a chance, you can have different outcomes. There are many who can tell you that now that they see marriage as God sees it, there has been a transformation. There are others who will tell you that now they see money as God sees it, their finances have been transformed. God’s commands and God’s views about life result in better decisions and better decisions result in better outcomes.

The cure for the “walking virus” is to change our belief system. We don’t have to conform to culture; we can be transformed by the renewing of our minds. What that means is we need to have a mind renovation. Renovations are about taking out the old and replacing it with the new. Renovations are messy and always take longer than we think. But the end result can be something spectacularly beautiful. Romans 12:2 says, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will.” As you begin to see life as God sees it, if you adopt God’s filters through which you view sex, marriage, relationships, finances, family and all those arenas of your life, not only will your outcomes be different, but God’s principles will begin to make sense. Break away from the “walkers” and start living.