"Life conspires to beat the rebel out of you."

That's a statement from Alex Bugosky. Microsoft has hired him to make Microsoft look cool. He's the guy that did the APPLE PC ads. The article linked above tells all about it. Worth reading.

What made me think when I read this was how true it is.

I remember as a teenager being advised to not go against the grain. Don't defend the unpopular. Go along to get along. It doesn't pay to fight the establishment.

Life was conspiring to beat the rebel out of me.

For a while I might have succumbed. Maybe I did. Now as the grey in my hair is battling the brown I find that fighting to find that rebel is more important than ever.

I must fight against the life conspires of the news media that try to pound me into a mould I know instinctively is wrong. In fact most of the news media most of the time is wrong.

I must fight against the life conspirators who tell me that I must be of this or that political tenor to be acceptable. I don't. I have that rebel alive and well in me.

I must fight against the life conspirators in my spiritual walk who tell me this or that is wrong, acceptable, unacceptable, must, don't, do, are obligated to do or not do. What I can or cannot believe. I won't back down. I have seen a great light and if you haven't seen it I must be a rebel and struggle to help you to see it.

Jesus never let life beat the rebel out of him. He stood against a corrupt religious system that took his life. He stood against sickness and oppression. He stood against hopelessness. He stood against everything that the devil would use to come against people and their destiny.

Mark Batterson:

One of the things I love about Jesus is that He remained the rebel his entire life. He didn't bow to the Pharisees. He didn't bow to Pilate. Truth is, He didn't bow to anyone except His Heavenly Father. That is what it means to be a spiritual rebel.

In the words of Dorothy Sayers: "To do them justice, the people who crucified Jesus did not do so because he was a bore. Quite the contrary; he was too dynamic to be safe. It is has been left for later generations to muffle up that shattering personality and surround him with an atmosphere of tedium. We have declawed the Lion of Judah and made him a housecat for pale priests and pious old ladies."

In fact, in a soft way, everything that tries to beat the rebel out of you is at it's core satanic.

From Charlie at Christian Thinker:

This reminded me of Romans 12:2 (I’ll quote the JB Phillips version because I love the language he uses):

Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mold, but let God re-mold your minds from within, so that you may prove in practice that the plan of God for you is good, meets all his demands and moves towards the goal of true maturity.

We Christians are role models, often when we don’t even realize people are watching. Most of us are immersed in the secular world in our jobs, our schools, our families, in the places where we shop and travel. And especially, in our blogs. We’re all under relentless pressure to conform: in speech, thought, values, and actions. But Christ calls us to be non-conformists. Christ calls us to live true to him, at all times, in all circumstances. And when we do, others notice.

So, don't let the world beat the rebel out of you.

Jesus didn't and we can be like Jesus.

Christians - stand up and say No to the world.