No Compromises

Recently, I was listening to one of my favorite artists and ministers, Cece Winans, and she was discussing how we as Christians are called not to compromise our faith (1 Cor 10:14-22) and our relationship with the Lord to achieve anything. Sometimes that means making hard decisions. Turning down opportunities that don’t honor God. She reminded me that the devil will open doors and provide opportunities as well. His goal is to lead us away from what God has for us and away from honoring God. 

The devil’s jealousy of us leads to hatred and any door he opens for us is intended to lead us astray, especially since He is out to steal from, kill and destroy us (John 10:10). That being said we have to remember that we are God’s children first and all the other characteristics are added on top of that. For instance, I’m God’s child who happens to be female, black and an engineer. That is something I must remember in all I do, so I don’t make compromises about who I am or lead a life where I compromise for popular opinion. 

At the end of the day, the only thing that matters is God and His will (Pro 19:21). Jesus said He was the only way to the Father (John 14:6); therefore, He is. He is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6). When we lean on our own understanding and lean on our opinions about things, we’re not only wrong, but insulting to God (Pro 3:5-6). For us to ever thing we know the mind of God, outside the Bible, is absurd. What we know about the world and everything in it couldn’t fill God’s thimble. The Holy Spirit may reveal something to us, but if it doesn’t line up with scripture and honor God, it’s not of God. God does not contradict Himself or violate His own directives. If what we are doing in any way contradicts the Word of God or God’s will, it is not Him. 

If we truly want to serve God, we have to follow Him (Matt 16:24-26). We have to sacrifice our fleshly desires and allow God to raise us up. In remembering, this journey is not about us, we find that we are in need of God to do everything. We recognize that we can do nothing without Him (John 15:5). We are not our own (Gal 2:20). Our gifts will make room for us (Pro 18:16), but it’s up to us to make sure we don’t get distracted by the noise. Public praise and attention feel good to our flesh, but it will never replace the intimacy that a close relationship with our heavenly Father provides. Denying our flesh makes us stronger in the spirit (Gal 5:16). Let’s stand on the Word and not compromise our relationship with God for anything. It’s not worth it.