Compromise seems to be "big" thing these days! Everyone wants everyone else to "compromise" truth, morals, even common sense so we can all "feel good" about ourselves! People want to believe that compromise takes from many good ideas and standards and then creates a way of living in which we will have utopia!
But friends, genuine truth cannot be compromised without damaging everyone! There may be some compromise that is insignificant - you want to go to a steak house and I want to go to a fish house - so we compromise and go to an oriental restuarant! No big deal! Of course, the result of compromise was that neither of us got anything we wanted - we just both settled on what we could tolerate.
When it comes to God's Word, the push is on, as much from inside the church as outside, to compromise! God's Word says to be sexually pure before marriage and have fidelity to your spouse in marriage! Right now our society is not arguing about compromise on the first - we don't find much sexual purity even in the church before marriage! What we are being encouraged to compromise now is the institution of marriage itself! If you want to get married, fine! If not, then accept it! The problem - God's Word cannot be compromised. It can be disobeyed - but not compromised. You know why? Because God wrote it - and He doesn't compromise.
The marriage deal was just one illustration! We are being bombarded to compromise all Biblical standards! The problem of compromising scripture is that we end up declaring eternal truths invalid! We essentially make ourselves the "deciders" of what is truth and what is not! It is to reject the Lord Himself as truth!
The longer I preach, the more Biblically centered I am becoming! This is not a form of Biblical "idolatry!" It is the understanding that God gave us His Word to establish eternal truths and boundaries for our lives. He gave us scripture to reveal truths about Himself! The more I preach, the more I am impressed to "let the Word speak!"
The more I do that, I find the Holy Spirit "stirring" hearts! Sometimes that "stirring" is like hitting a wasp nest with a stick! Sometimes that stirring is a deep moving of the heart towards righteousness. I have a lot to say - but I am trying to defer to staying out of the way and just letting the Word speak! God uses us - He speaks through His servants - but His Word must outshine anything we have to say on the matter!
One thing is for sure! In the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, those who teach and preach must not compromise on the Word of Truth! To do so will likely end in disaster for the church and the teacher / preacher! I, for one, want to avoid that!
I like your comparison between "stirring" and wasp nest.
Posted by: wasp nest removal | May 02, 2012 at 10:57 AM