Survival of the Fittest
I usually find our Wednesday morning men’s bible study conversations fascinating. Today was no different. So much so that it inspired what I wanted to share with you today.
With the men’s bible study, we’ve been slowly working our way through Paul’s most ambitious letter – Romans. Today, we spent a lot of time on two deep, challenging, and rich verses from Romans 12:
1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not be conformed 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.
There’s a lot there, but the phrase “do not be conformed to the pattern of this world” stood out for us this morning. I asked the men,
“what is the pattern of this world?”
Without hesitation, one of the guys said, “Survival of the fittest.”
“Survival of the fittest” refers to the idea that organisms that are most ‘fitted to survive’ in their environment will, and weaker, less-suited organisms will die. It’s the idea that life is fundamentally about self-survival, even at the expense of others. It’s about protecting and guaranteeing our own lives above all else. It is ‘me-first’, and when you think about it, entirely self-centered.
We see it when we’re kids as the stronger, louder, more popular kids rise the ranks and the weaker, quieter, less popular kids get stepped on. We see it in business as people make decisions that will benefit their own bottom line while destroying others’. We see it in history every time a group (the Nazis, for instance) see themselves as superior to an inferior group (as the Nazis saw the Jews). We see it in society as people, for a plethora of reasons, get pushed to the margins of society – as losers, by the winners.
It’s the pattern of this world. It’s normal, it’s natural.
And it’s completely anti-Christ.
Paul’s call here is to not be conformed to the pattern of this world, but instead “to be transformed by the renewing of your mind” to be conformed to the pattern of God’s world – i.e., to the Kingdom of God as Jesus embodied and demonstrated.
What is the pattern of the Kingdom of God?
It’s not about self-survival, self-protection, or self-centeredness.
It’s about self-giving.
Self-giving love, in fact, as Jesus showed us.
It’s what it means to “offer your bodies as a living sacrifice”. Paul is saying that, with our “bodies” (all that we are, all that we have, with all of our lives), we are to lay it all down for God’s Kingdom and purposes on earth. Just as Jesus shows us.
It’s not “me-first”. It’s “Kingdom-first”, which means “others-first”.
Or as Jesus himself says in Matthew 16:25, “For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.”
We are to be patterned after this world – the Kingdom-first world, the self-giving love world, the ‘cruciform’ world….the world where the Beatitudes (Matthew 5) somehow make sense, where
the poor are ‘blessed’, rather than the rich,
the meek are ‘blessed’, rather than the arrogant,
the righteousness-hungry are ‘blessed’, rather the power-hungry,
the merciful are ‘blessed’, rather than the vindictive,
the losers are ‘blessed’, rather than the winners.
In the Kingdom of God – and in the pattern of God’s world – it’s about the survival of the least fit, because it’s they who know they truly need God’s grace, mercy, justice, and love.