Compromise

Shown in the above picture is my girls the day they were baptized. For them I will not compromise.

Last night at Bible study, I did a lesson on the Armor of God. Basically the Bible tells us to guard our souls with truth, righteousness (not ours but His), peace, faith, salvation, The Word of God, and prayer. The best way I know to describe it is by saying that if one piece of your armor is loosened, the world has access to manipulate your soul.

To describe a time this happened in the Bible, I used the story of Jehoshaphat (Ephesians 17-20)—though there are many other times told about as well. He was a good Godly king who walked in the way of the Lord, but—through good intentions—he made some ungodly decisions and allowed himself to be manipulated time and time again. This led to devastation not only during his reign, but for generations. This almost led to the obliteration of the Davidic lineage that led to Jesus himself! If not for the grace of God, due to Jehoshaphat’s loosening of his armor, the world may not have been granted salvation.

I say all this to you to explain why I’ve titled this post “Compromise.” We tell each other that in relationships and marriage, in order to make them work, both parties have to compromise. That is not the wrong thing to say or the wrong thing to believe, but too much compromise is the same as loosening your armor or letting your guard down. If you’re in a relationship with someone—any kind of relationship: friendship, marriage, business, political—compromising your morals to please the other person is NOT OK. That is not what God expects from us. He specifically expects us to NOT be unevenly yoked. That is to say that in order to have good relationships, one must have those true relationships with like-minded, spirit-filled people. However, our job as Christians is to show people the walk of the believer. What tends to happen sometimes when you are unevenly yoked and let your guard down, is that rather than the saved helping lead the unsaved to Jesus, the unsaved pulls the saved down a path they were never meant to be on. That is why in Jude 23 the Lord tells us: “And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.” We are to NEVER let our guard down. We are to be fearful And weary of unsaved people so that we have the mindset to protect our decisions against the wiles of the devil. We are to show them mercy but still do our best to show them the way.

I have to remember that I am a Christian above all other hats I wear. I am a Christian wife, a Christian mother, a Christian daughter, a Christian granddaughter, a Christian sister, a Christina aunt, a Christian teacher, a Christian photographer, a Christian coach, a Christian friend—and the list goes on and on. Compromising my Christianity in any of those roles could have DEVASTATING effects. Here we are thousands of years after the happenings in the Bible, and we are still talking about the poor decisions of the Lord’s chosen people. We all make mistakes. We are fortunate enough to have God’s grace. If we compromise too much, there will come a time when we stop asking for that grace. When we stop asking for forgiveness, we have turned a corner in a path leading us away from the Lord. That’s when the story of our lives leaves an unGodly mark on history.

I won’t compromise my morals for anything. I don’t have to be the most popular. I don’t have to make the most money. My kids don’t have to think I’m cool or their best friend. It’s my job to light the right path and to do my best to stay the course. Finding a way to do that in this world we live in is a challenge, but with the Armor of God, we will be just fine.