Consequences of Compromise
In Matthew 15:4-6, Jesus continues speaking sharply to the Pharisees saying “God clearly says, ‘Respect your father and mother,’ and, ‘Anyone denouncing father or mother should be killed.’ But you weasel around that by saying, ‘Whoever wants to, can say to father and mother, What I owed to you I’ve given to God.’ That can hardly be called respecting a parent. You cancel God’s command by your rules.” (The Message)
Do we ever find ourselves compromising with God’s commandments and/or His will? Of course the answer is yes. God hates compromise. We often put ourselves in a position to compromise with God’s word, but we refuse to compromise with our fellow brothers and sisters. We have it in reverse. Why do we compromise with God though? We are weak to our fleshly wants and desires. We just seem to fail over and over. We feel like we are letting God down. We get to the point where we feel so lost and apart from God. We are slowly fading away and dying in our own compromise. What are we to do? Can we save ourselves? Surely we can’t. However, Jesus saves! I don’t know where we got this mindset that we can let God down. We were never holding Him up. In fact, He is the one who lifts us up and holds us in place. As we draw closer to God with open hearts, He heals us, changes us, purifies our hearts, and takes the compromise out of our lives slowly but surely. Let’s be more open to our brothers and sisters working together with knowing that we are all different, but are still part of the same body, the body of Christ. Our hands never fight with our feet, and our elbows with our knees, and our eyes with our ears; we should not fight with our brothers and sisters either.