- Decades of seemingly small compromises has led to institutional and societal insanity. Yet believers should have great hope because we know Who’s really in charge. He allows wickedness and evil because without them, we might not fully understand and cherish Him and His pure goodness, righteousness, mercy, grace and assured redemption.
Judges: Compromise
Judges 2:10-12
After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Israel. Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord and served the Baals. They forsook the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them.
Thought for Today
It has often been said that Christianity is only one generation away from extinction.
What is frightening is it will not be a single rebellious generation that walks away from the Lord. History shows us that it is the cancer of small compromises that cause the next generation to think that the Lord is unimportant.
This is the first phase in the cycle of sin that plays out 12 times in the Book of Judges. The people slowly walk away from God one compromising baby step at a time until they come to the place where they don’t really know Him anymore.
I believe that we, as a nation, are experiencing this today. Gradually declining church attendance, prayer removed from school, small social compromises in the name of equity and tolerance, the denial of objective truth and many other small steps away from God are causing the next generation to think that God is unimportant. And they don’t have time for what is unimportant.
What compromises have you allowed in your life or the life of your family? How can you begin to uphold the importance of the Lord in your family again? It is always easiest to cure the cancer if it is caught early.
Prayer
Holy Lord, I confess that I have begun to compromise on small issues in my life rather than standing strong for You. Help me to see these compromises and take steps to eliminate them, that I may be more faithful to You. Amen
Devotional Quote
Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one--the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts,...Your affectionate uncle, Screwtape. ― C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters
Quote of the Day
Don't compromise yourself. You are all you've got. — Janis Joplin