Compromising Your Faith

This post originally published at www.modernchristianliving.com                 -Bill Petite


Compromising your faith is something we could catch ourselves in the middle of at any time during our routine day. That's OK, as long as we recognize it and back out of whatever

situation we find ourselves in at the time. There are always going to be those times when we get caught up in a situation or we find ourselves in a conversation we need to get out of or any other number of ways in which the devil will attempt to trip us up. The important thing to remember is, when we recognize it, get out! It is too easy, in this world today, to get into a compromising situation. If we are walking close to God, it will be like a flashing neon sign and easy for us to recognize. Regardless where it is, people will attempt to drag us into their worldly schemes and activities; we must be aware that the enemy of our souls is a very slick character and wants to cause us as much harm as possible. The Bible tells us about this very thing,

Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.          1 Pet. 5:8   NLT   www.biblegateway.com

There will be those times when a Christian will know right away that the situation is a compromise to their faith. There might be pressure applied by friends to take part; maybe these friends are other Christians or maybe they are not. For the non-Christian friends who attempt to drag us into their worldly activities, it is a great time to witness to them by explaining why we cannot participate. There will probably be some intimidation, mocking and an attempt to pressure us into taking part. But when we make our stand and stand fast on our Christian ethics and morals that alone will be a witness. If we give in to the pressure, we compromise our faith and send the message to these unsaved people that it is alright to take part in these types of activity or they might get the impression that this Christianity stuff is nothing more than a front which we use to make ourselves look better than the rest of the world. Christianity is a relationship with Jesus Christ; He is our Lord and savior and the truth is, we are living a better life than the rest of the world, a life in which we have eternity in heaven with Jesus to look forward to, but we don't use that as a tool to rub in the faces of those who are not saved. We use it to encourage them to consider who Jesus really is and allow them to see what He has done in our lives. There is no greater testimony than what Jesus has done in each one of us. If our unsaved friends have been around us before we were saved, they see that testimony every time they are with us. But, if we are witnessing to them, telling them how Jesus has changed our lives and we give in to the pressure to take part in something we know is wrong, we have destroyed our testimony and compromised our faith. If these friends are Christians and they are trying to talk us into taking part in a compromising situation, then when we recognize it, we need to lovingly explain to them what the situation represents and how wrong it is to take part in it. This could be an opportunity to encourage this Christian in his/her faith; this person may be a new Christian and this would present the opportunity to help the person, being newer in the faith.

Working in the secular work place is a good example of being challenged on a continual basis to compromise our faith. Many will stretch that break or that lunch or slip out before quitting time. I had a man tell me a few years ago that he was caught leaving work ten minutes early on a certain day. The supervisor told him if he was going to leave early, leave two hours early. The supervisor told him by leaving two hours early, anyone who saw him leaving would assume he had approval, but ten minutes was obvious that he was simply trying to get a head start. He told me he took that advice and got away with it for two years! I guess I have to tell you the one thing that makes this account stand out; he is a Christian. Now, he wasn't the only guilty party here. The supervisor who instructed him to do this (this was not his supervisor) was also guilty and encouraged him. This could be tempting but, I would always be looking over my shoulder because I know that is wrong and I would be waiting for Jesus to lower the boom on me in one way or another. I have heard Christians asking why people who are not Christians can get away with doing or not doing certain things. I believe that when we accept Jesus as our savior and enter into His grace and are a part of the family of God, we are then expected to live by His rules.  We grow in our faith and spirituality and we have the desire in our hearts to live that way. But, Jesus still wants us to live that way and when we compromise that standard of living, the Holy Spirit is going to convict us. So, why do the non-Christians get away with certain things? They are not living according to the same set of rules we are. They are living according to the standards of the world.  Job, when questioning God, asked something similar, concerning the world getting ahead while the faithful suffer,

Why do the wicked live and become old, Yes, become mighty in power?  Job 21:7   NKJV

Our best example to follow is Jesus. He has given us our manual for living, the Bible. We should not be concerned with living by the standards set forth by the world. We are to be holy; that means to be set apart and in this case, set apart from the world in the way we live. I'm not the best person to be advising this because I have as many hang ups as the next person. But, there are none of us who are perfect in the flesh. We have, however, received the Holy Spirit who lives within us and will give us the spiritual guidance we need, if we allow Him. With that in mind, why then do we make our lives so complicated by trying to live a double standard? I know Christians who want to get as close to that invisible line which separates us from the world. They don't really want to cross over but they love living on the line. This is a dangerous lifestyle; a Christian could at any time compromise his/her faith. When a Christian lives on the line, that person becomes numb to the effect of evil in the world and before they know it, they are more than willing to cross that line. I know this because I have been there and Jesus didn't throw a life line, He grabbed hold of me and jerked me back. To me, this reaffirmed the love He has for me. He could have easily allowed me to cross over and enter into that world of evil compromise. The good news is, He will do that for any one of His people. He paid the ultimate price for us and He will not allow us to go wandering off.

If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them wanders away, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others on the hills and go out to search for the one that is lost? And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he will rejoice over it more than over the ninety-nine that didn’t wander away! In the same way, it is not my heavenly Father’s will that even one of these little ones should perish.                               MT. 18:11-14   NLT

So, even if a Christian does find himself in a compromising situation, you can be sure that Jesus, by His Holy Spirit will come looking for you. This is so reassuring to know that we have a savior who loves us so much, He will come after us when we get lost, He will forgive us and cleanse us and set us on the right path of life, with Him, again.

There will also be those times when we will have to make a stand for what we know is right and know the worldly consequences will also be difficult to deal with. As Christians, we do have those standards which we live by, or should be living by. When the world asks us to break that standard of living and do things their way, we have to decide what we are going to do. The world is very good at applying the pressure and that is because they have the ruler of this world, Satan, encouraging them and advising them in ways to create these schemes. Most, if not almost all those in the world, who are not saved don't even realize it is Satan behind their agenda and that is the way the devil wants it. He loves it when people don't believe he exists because it allows him to operate in total incognito. We need to be close to the Lord in our daily walk through this life. It is really easy to be tripped up when we wander too far away from Jesus and then we are a prime target for compromise. But, when we make our stand for Jesus, we can be sure the world will come after us. I'm sure most reading this have heard about the couple who was forced to close their bakery in Oregon because they declined a request by a lesbian couple to bake a wedding cake for them. The husband and wife, who owned the bakery, knew in their heart that this would be a compromise of their faith and what they believe the Bible teaches, so they refused to compromise. That is making a stand! It cost them their livelihood; they were forced out of business by the gay agenda in that community through a campaign which rivaled any mob or mafia organization! One woman who supported the lesbian couple made a statement that she wished them the best but she was glad they were forced to close their business down. That is a contradiction of terms if I ever heard any. But that is the way of the world. “Sorry about your bad luck but you deserved it!" The following is just one of the hateful responses they received as a result of their decision.

"You stupid bible thumping, hypocritical b****. I hope your kids get really, really, sick and you go out of business," noted the advocates in one vulgar email.   

http://www.christianpost.com/news/gay-advocates-get-wish-as-christian-bakers-who-refused-to-bake-cake-for-lesbian-couple-forced-to-close-shop-103610/

Heartless, intolerant people asking for tolerance! If you are thinking about compromising your faith, this is the type of people you will be dealing with! We live according to the standard set forth by Jesus in His word and the world hates it. In the eyes of the world, we are narrow minded fools. We have even been referred to recently as monsters! Monsters? Who is behind this? If you know what the Bible teaches, you know this is a direct quote from the devil himself by way of the human he has spoken it through! This couple had to make a decision and they knew if they baked this cake, it would say loud and clear they support what this lesbian couple is involved in. They don't support same sex marriage and therefore decided not to make the cake. It cost them their business but that decision will last for all eternity, the business would have been burnt up with the other things of this world. (1 Pet 3:12)

In response to what has happened the wife had this to say,

"I am who I am and I want to live my life the way I want to live my life. I choose to serve God and I believe in the Bible. And I believe what it says and I want to live by that," said Melissa.  "I don't want to shove it down anyone else's throat or anything like that," she added. "I would hope to have the same respect, you know, that things don't have to be shoved on me and force me to do something I don't want to do." 

http://www.christianpost.com/news/gay-activists-used-mafia-tactics-to-shut-down-bakery-says-christian-couple-103744/

So, there may come a time in our Christian life when we will have to make a decision to compromise our faith or make a stand for Jesus and what we truly believe in. I have had small challenges, small in comparison to what this couple in Oregon experienced. But what will we do when this challenge comes to us? Will we stand or will we compromise and say, "It's only a cake, what's the big deal?" The big deal is what does the cake represent?  Regardless of the challenge, if we recognize the attempt to get us to compromise our faith and damage our witness, we then can easily make the decision which is right. We must refuse or decline to be a part of the worldly activity which would represent that which stands in opposition to God's word and our Christian belief and ethic. We can never let our guard down because the enemy is on the prowl and he is looking for someone to destroy. Compromising our faith is not an option in our Christian life.