Romans 12:2 "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect."

We should not be in harmony with this world; the world that we are in the presence of until we die. This world will pass away, this life itself will pass away. We should in fact, hate certain things this depraved world has created. In Romans 7 I believe, Paul says that if "I do what I do not want, than it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me". You see, if we are sinning and we hate it, it is litteraly not our soul or spirit that commits it, it is our flesh.

So many times, people judge by the appearance of the body, but our body is not who we are, it is our container. Being imperfect, we will always be contained in a bodily and physical form which distinguishes us from God. I remember a specific example once given to me by my grandmother, she compared our physical and spiritual form to a penut. A penut has a shell and does not come into existence without one, but the inside of the peanut is never seen until you examine the peanut beyond its external appearance. Humans are the same, we are in this physical container and cannot escape the bounds of it. The Bible tells us that when we get to heaven, we will have heavenly bodies, so my question is: Seeing as us humans are always going to be confined in a "container", is this simply so that God can put limits on us and show his dominion over us? Or is there another reason God has done this?

By focusing no longer on outward appearance, the world, or sin, one can focus and be closer to God presence. But only in heavenly realms will one experience the greatest possible intensity of God's presence.