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Key Bible Verse: Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind (Romans 12:2a). Bonus Reading: 1 John 2:15-17

My greatest desire my first year after college was to own an American Express card, announcing to the world that I was somebody. But I didn't have the credit. So I asked my father-in-law to cosign for me.

When the Gold card became popular, I didn't want one. The Gold card signified the holder had a $5,000 line of credit. By then I had a larger line of credit with my bank and didn't want anyone to think I only had $5,000.

But then the Platinum card came out. To qualify, you must have spent a minimum of $10,000 on your existing card in the previous 12 months. By obtaining the Platinum card you could send the high-status message to everyone. I'd spent nowhere near that kind of money on my Green card, so I began to put everything on it.

One day I realized my real reason for having a Platinum card was to make me feel more important than men who didn't. I'd rationalized the necessity of it because I traveled and entertained so much. In reality, I was letting myself be pressed into the mold of this world.

I happily carry a Green card again.

—Patrick M. Morley in The Man in the Mirror

• Where do you feel the "squeeze" to be like the world?

Thought to Apply: To have a thing is little, if you're not allowed to show it, and to know a thing is nothing unless others know you know it.

— CHARLES NEAVES (speaker)

Credits: Adapted from— Friday: The Man in the Mirror (Zondervan, 1999)

Copyright © 2000 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity. For reprint information click here.

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