Do not be conformed to this world

 They know about God, but they don’t honour him or even thank him. Their thoughts are useless, and their stupid minds are in the dark. They are evil, wicked, and greedy, as well as mean in every possible way. They want what others have, and they murder, argue, cheat, and are hard to get along with. - Romans 1:21,29

Paul observes that those who have rejected God have done so by suppressing the truth about God. Historian Will Durant observed: “The greatest question of our time is… whether [we] can live without God.”  Durant was echoing Nietzsche on even lost delusions of the divine.

The primary reason Paul gives us acting wrongly is thinking wrongly.  Walking in the Spirit means to take action. Whether we walk “according the Spirit” or “according to the flesh,” the emphasis is on what we do with our bodies and not, primarily, on how we feel. Much of popular spirituality is about how we feel, whether we’re happy, but Paul focuses on what we do.

We see this in Hebrews 11 where some of the heroes achieved success and others did not. 

We ought in these days to have far more faith than Abel, or Enoch, or Abraham had. They lived away on the other side of the Cross. We talk about the faith of Elijah, and the patriarchs and prophets; but they lived in the dim light of the past, while we are in the full blaze of Calvary and the resurrection. When we look back and think of what Christ did, how He poured out His blood that men might be saved, we ought to go forth in His strength and conquer the world. Our God is able to do great and mighty things. - Moody

 Psalm 1 also celebrates not being conformed by not following the counsel of evil men and instead delighting in God's law. A godly person is influenced not by unrighteous people but by his meditation on the Word of God. That kind of meditation involves study and retention and that can only come about if there is a desire to do so - a delight to do so. The psalmist found direction, not drudgery by following God.

We choose with our minds whether to know God's teachings and whether to obey them. How do we learn to discern God’s voice? In meditation. Christian meditation trains our ears to distinguish God’s voice—that one instrument—amidst the orchestra of others. And once we learn to recognise God’s voice, we begin to hear it “time and again, in various ways.”

Even listening to my unguarded thoughts is a valuable diagnostic practise when discerning what is going on inside of me.

Finally, my friends, keep your minds on whatever is true, pure, right, holy, friendly, and proper. Don’t ever stop thinking about what is truly worthwhile and worthy of praise.- Philippians 4:8