Whenever we want to make a deal with someone, we must be willing to compromise. An example of that would be if you are trying to buy a car from someone and they want $10,000 for it. You look the car over and decide, yes, you want it, but you’re only willing to give $8,000 for it. Would you walk away, or would you make your $8,000 offer for it? Well, if you wanted it, you would offer the seller what you decided, and he could either take it, or refuse. We will say he was willing to compromise with you for $9,000 and you felt you could do that, so you made the deal. And that’s the way we usually do business. We don’t always get what we want, so we have to compromise. How does that way of doing things work with God?


Ok, we will say you want to be saved. So you ask God to forgive your sins. But you really don’t want to “repent”, so you keep doing them, because, after all, compromise is the way of life. You’re willing to go to church and sing a few hymns, because you’re “saved”, right? You want Christ Jesus to be your Savior, but you’d just as soon remain Lord of your life yourself. That’s “compromise” in YOUR mind. But it’s TREASON in God’s eyes. Let me go on.

I’ve heard it said, “If Jesus is not Lord of all, He is not Lord at all.” And that’s exactly how it is, friends. You see, for the Kingdom of God to work in your life, you must be a “citizen”, and not just a “visitor”. A “citizen” LIVES in the Kingdom of God, abides there, obeys there, and is afforded all the protections and benefits due His citizens. Instead of the word “citizen”, it would be better if I use the word “family”, for all the citizens are sons and daughters of God. They are not “visitors”, because they’re permanent residents. A “visitor” is one who comes and goes as they desire, not quite “family”, although welcomed.

Sadly, many Christians are “visitors”, rather than “family”. It isn’t that God made them visitors, but rather they themselves. That’s part of the “compromise” mentality. They only want to have one foot in the Kingdom of God so they can have some blessings, but they aren’t ready or willing to commit to being “family” and jump in with both feet. They think it’s ok to mix a little sin in with a little Holy. And they don’t realize how dangerous that is. Not only do you miss out on the blessings you could have, but if not corrected, it leads to eternal death.

Now, if you were going to paint your car, and you were a little short on cash, rather than waiting until you could afford the correct ingredients, you COULD water the paint down to make it go farther. Everything would proceed well for a while. You could spray the paint on ever so skillfully and it would look nice, for a few minutes, that is. But soon, the paint would separate from the water and you would have horrible blotches and blisters all over your car. You would step back and say, Eeeeewww, that’s ugly, and not at all what I had in mind. Well, had you not mixed the water with your nice expensive paint, all would have gone well. Compromise never works with a paint job. Now you have not only wasted your money, you have to sand it all off and start over again, causing you double the trouble. And compromise doesn’t work with sin, either.

Most everyone I ask would like to have the blessings of God. Now there are a few that are gluttons for punishment, and they think in order to be in the Kingdom of God, they must always be getting beat up and persecuted, but that’s another story for another time. God is a loving Father, who loves to take good care of His kids, so being one of His kids is where you want to be. Any parent knows that when a child goes against the rules, there are consequences to pay, and if they’re a good parent, they will correct their child to save them from destruction. And the same goes for God. He is a good parent, so if you step over the line, you can expect He will correct you. We live in a period of “grace”, and sometimes God will overlook an infraction, but if He sees you’re going to abuse that grace and not correct yourself, He will step in and correct you. Our built-in “compromise” nature sets us up for lots of trials and suffering. It isn’t that GOD wants you to suffer, but the devil does, so the devil will try to lead you in the way you should not go.

Somehow, compromise always feels good at the time. God says “do THIS”, and we say, “I wanna do THAT instead.” And we think it should go our way, forgetting that Christ Jesus paid a HORRIBLE and AGONIZING price in order to buy our salvation. He sees the traps the devil has set for us, and tells us how to avoid them, but often we aren’t listening, because we think we have a better idea. And even when we DO clearly hear His voice, we still end up doing it “our way”, sort of like the Burger King mentality I have often talked about: you can go in Burger King and order a hamburger pretty much any way you want it. Why, if you want the burger patties on the outside, and the bun in the middle, they’ll do that for you, because you can have it YOUR way. That mentality goes with us to church. People seem to think God is their personal genie in a bottle, you know, rub the bottle and make your wish.

If you’re going to have a nice, cool glass of water, would it matter if I put just a little of some old nasty motor oil in it? Of course it would! Yet people can’t see how they are doing the same exact thing to themselves when they ask God to save them, and then they want to see how much sin they can get away with and still make the Kingdom of God. Supposed you went to a wedding, and they are getting ready to exchange vows, and the bride says, “Honey, I love you so very much, but would you mind if I hug my old boyfriend sometimes? Could I go out on a date with him once in a while? Could he come over once in a while to spend the night with me? Not very often, mind you, maybe just once a year or so?”

Are we doing a similar thing to our Lord Jesus? Are we wanting Him, but also wanting to hold onto our old life just a little? After all, what does a little compromise hurt? Well, I’ll tell you: it hurts the Lord Jesus, and I promise it will hurt you, too. The Lord Jesus had something to say about that in Revelation 3:15-22,

15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.
20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.

 

21 To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.
22 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

And it is often the person whom God has blessed the most that will drift away, because they are full, rich, and increased in goods and have no perceived need of anything. They will make small compromises here and there that will lead to greater and greater ones, that will eventually lead them to totally walk off the path that leads to life. Do yourself a great favor: when presented with an opportunity to compromise, DON’T! God will put in your spirit what is pleasing to Him. That’s the deal you want to take, don’t try bargaining with Him about it. Yes, Abraham compromised with God over the future of Sodom and Gomorrah, but that was only to ask God to have mercy on people who were totally corrupted. And God listened to Abraham as he did, but in the end their sins resulted in their destruction anyway.

Compromise is fine at the marketplace, but not with your relationship with God. You are asking God for HIS best. And God gave HIS best for you, in the sacrifice of Christ Jesus. So is it asking too much for you to do YOUR best for God?

When you refuse to compromise with what you know the Word of God says, it sets you up for victory when the devil comes calling. When he comes and tries to put sickness on you, for example, you can stand in the devil’s face and say, I belong to Jesus, I obey His voice, and you have nothing in me, get out of here and take your junk with you! And he WILL go, because you have heaven backing you up. God knows who is and isn’t fully His. And the devil knows, too. So like I said, when presented an opportunity to compromise and “cheat a little on God”, DON’T! In the end you will be glad you stood with God without compromise.