The Sin of Compromise

Compromise can sound like a good word. When two people can't agree on something, they might find a middle ground and compromise. And sometimes, that might be the best solution. But when it comes to our faith, compromise is never a good thing. Every time I have compromised my faith, I come away stained.

'If you put on a pair of clean white gloves on a rainy day and then go out into the backyard to the flowerbed and pick up a glob of mud, trust me, the mud will never get "glovey." The gloves will definitely get muddy. Every time. In all my sixty-plus years on earth, I have never seen glovey mud.' - Dropping Your Guard, Charles Swindoll

Consider the company we keep. If our "gloveyness" is not rubbing off on their "muddiness," then perhaps we have become muddied ourselves.

 "Do not be deceived: 'Bad company corrupts good morals.'"
 1 Corinthians 15:33

The company we keep and the daily choices we make, may seem insignificant, but it leaves a stain on our character that pierces through to our soul and separates us from God. I feel it in my spirit when I am at the foot of the cross. The mud of my guilt covers me and I see my selfishness and failings.

"Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. ² And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect."

Romans 12:1-2

Oh, I see so many ways I have allowed compromise into my life. Seemingly small and insignificant compromises, but they have dug a jagged barb into my soul, clutching, seizing, trying to snatch me away from my Redeemer.

 Would you pray this with me today?

*Father, we repent of every grey area in our lives - every area of compromise evident in our thought processes, motivations, desires and passions of our hearts. We repent, and ask You for forgiveness in Jesus' name. Dig DEEP within us, and remove every ROOT of COMPROMISE from within us.  Speak to our hearts and REVEAL the specific areas in our lives where we are compromising Your TRUTH.

(And this is a hard prayer…)

Help us to let go of everything that You require of us, even those things which are not evil, but will simply hinder us from walking in the FULLNESS of Your presence and Glory.

We renounce selfishness, pride, arrogance, lust and the rebellion of compromise in Jesus' mighty name.

We speak life to the Spirit of submission, surrenderance, and obedience in Jesus' name.  Father, let these pure virtues rise up within us.

 *Paraphrased from: A Prayer of Repentance and Warfare Against the Sin and Spirit of Compromise