Guarding Against Compromise

Lately, I’ve been feeling a little disconnected from God. I remember hearing many times from many people that when this happens, God hasn’t moved, we have and we need to draw near to him. That’s great, but what happens when you’re just not sure what that means, or what else you can do?

This year, our church’s theme is “Leave a Mark.” The idea being that our lives: our actions and attitudes, our words and our works should have an impact for Christ in the lives around us and in the world we live in. This is a great theme. We need to think about how what we say and the way we say it affects the people around us; we need to be intentional in what we do and how we do it to be sure we are following Christ and pointing toward Him. After nearly 20 years as a pastor, trying to encourage people to live intentionally and influence others for Christ has always been a top go-to. “What does it look like to follow Jesus?” That’s been the question, and it’s one we really need to focus on!

The thing that’s occurred to me, though, is this: too often I look at following Jesus like a one-sided coin. I usually think about what I need to do to please God. I think about outflow… about how I can make a mark. I don’t often think seriously about the things that have, and do, leave a mark on me—those things that I allow to influence me—and whether those things belong in a life surrendered to Christ.

In James’ letter to the church he makes a powerful statement to those who would think that (mostly) keeping the law of Moses somehow makes them more Christian. He said, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world,” (James 1:27).

That first part is where I live. If I’m following Jesus, I will have new habits, new priorities, and new values. These will form as I am transformed in Christ, but the second part is deeply connected and just as important. Without it we’re like the people who came to Jesus saying, “Didn’t we prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and do many miraculous signs?” Yet Jesus will say to them, “I never knew you!” It’s the part about what we allow to influence us and shape our worldview.

Pollution is a process. Pristine creeks and rivers tend to stay pretty clean, but when there’s a little bit of trash around, people don’t mind leaving a little more… and a trashy area can become a dumping ground for all kinds of vile things.

I’ve been slack… in danger of this same thing happening in my heart. Starting with little compromises or shortcuts, agreements with the enemy, and lapses in keeping good habits. I’ve accepted things that are socially acceptable, but not life-giving. If we aren’t careful, our hearts can wind up a trash heap, full of dead and rotting things, bereft of life and unable to give life. When this happens, we may keep our religious habits, but they are completely devoid of any real power in our life (2 Timothy 3:1-5) and the kind of mark we leave is more like a skid mark than anything positive.

Proverbs 4:23 instructs us that, “Above all else guard your heart because it is the wellspring (the source) of your life.” In other words, I need to be much more careful about what I allow to have a foothold in my heart, because it will affect the way I live.

In high school, I was a metal head. When I acknowledged Jesus, I continued to listen to that music believing that the voice was “just another instrument” and the lyrics could be ignored. I was wrong. The music we listen to can affect how we live and our attitudes about life. Drinking, cheating, partying, violence… it all gets a place of varied acceptance in our lives when the music we listen to exalts it. Same with the movies we watch. When sex, violence, and foul language are glorified in our entertainment, it gains a place of acceptance in our hearts and it affects how we see the world and how we treat people.

My wife and I don’t drink. The Bible doesn’t say “don’t drink,” but it does say, “Do not get drunk with wine for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit,”(Ephesians 5:18). Those two things are polar opposites. Utilizing drugs and alcohol for the purpose of intoxication is meant to distract, to cloud, to obscure, and to numb. The Spirit awakens and enlightens, He brings clarity and understanding. To engage in drunkenness is to work against the Spirit. I guess the question we should ask is, “How much do we want to work againstGod?”

In fact, when it comes to guarding our hearts, the question we should ask when placing something in the balance is NOT, “Why can’t I?” We should instead ask, “Why should I?” If I want to regain my intimacy with God, grow closer to Him, and have a life-giving impact on the world around me, I need to be intentional about the things I do and the things I allow into my life.

Movies, music, video games; the company we keep, the people we allow to influence us; the hobbies we invest in; the things we spend our time doing—all of these things matter.

As Paul wrote to the church in Corinth, “All things are permissible, but not everything is beneficial. All things are permissible, but I will not be mastered by anything,” (1 Corinthians 6:12).

Many things are “socially acceptable,” but should they have a place in our hearts, our minds, our worldviews, and in our lives? Paul said this to the believers in Rome, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind [by changing the way you think],” (Romans 12:1-2).

How can we do this? Before prayer changes our circumstances, it will first have to change us. These are some passages I want to make into regular prayers. I want these things to become the honest desire of my heart, regardless of the deeply embedded habits, ideas, beliefs, entitlements, and comforts it may cost me.

“Search my heart and know me. Know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in Your way everlasting,” (Psalm 139:23-24).

“Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on His law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers,” (Psalm 1:1-3).

If we’re going to grow closer to God, then there will be debris, rubble, and garbage that we will need to get out of the way.