Compromise: December 4, 2013

TODAY’S WORD FOR WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 4, 2013

COMPROMISE

DEFINITION:

Mediate; arbitrate; reconcile; give-and-take; accommodation; a settlement of differences by mutual adjustment or modification of opposing principles.

SCRIPTURE:

For when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away after other gods; and his heart was not wholly devoted to the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father. I Kings 11:4.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

We are living today in a society that believes that compromise and tolerance are the only reasonable world view to have. This is a popular misconception and ultimately will lead one to destruction.

Compromise means giving up something in order to obtain an objective. Compromise can be beneficial in some instances. In personal relationships there is a needed element of give and take. One person cannot have it his or her way all the time. However, compromise that leads to sacrificing one’s moral values and Godly standards of righteousness will have disastrous results. Sadly, this is what we learn from the life of Solomon. Solomon’s life shows that compromise was a destructive choice in his life.

In the early years of Solomon’s reign as King, he was committed to doing right. But later in life when he saw the opportunity to promote himself politically, he ignored the command in scripture forbidding marriage to pagans. You can read about this in the Old Testament books: Deuteronomy 7:1-3 and I Kings 3:1. Though Solomon viewed this union as an insignificant deviation, Satan used it in his strategy to convince him to compromise small portions of God’s Word at a time. And this was the beginning of that compromise for Solomon.

Stepping away from the truth of God’s Word and breaking His commandments always begins with what seems to be of no great significance.

Solomon admired women of other nationalities, but instead of marrying just one and finding ways to avoid the temptation of other women, he married many, became involved in their religions and soon was trapped in sin and his heart turned from God.

Solomon’s temptations may be different than what we face daily but accepting compromise in our lives can trap us as well. Unchecked admiration for something or someone beyond God’s will for our life can convince us to pursue it. Even though we know intellectually and spiritually our choice is wrong it is very easy to be trapped by Satan and to harden our heart against God even with the warnings we may get from the Holy Spirit. 

As believers in Jesus we must guard against a preoccupation of a person, object, or activity that holds a place in our life with a greater priority than our Lord’s. If we allow this to happen we lose our freedom in Jesus and become caught in a prison of sin. The cost of compromise is the corruption of our soul.

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in II Corinthians 9:8.

And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything; you may have abundance for every good deed.

PRAYER:

Help our family, dear Lord, not to compromise on what we believe. May our faith in You be strong in every situation we face in life. May others see in us a consistency that honors Your name.