BY PASTOR T. O. BANSO
“Happy are those who obey his decrees and search for him with all their hearts. They do not compromise with evil, and they walk only in his paths” (Psalm 119:2-3 New Living Translation).
You will never know how easily you can fall until there is a test of what you claim to believe. 1 Corinthians 10:12 says those who think they are standing should be careful so that they don’t fall. This is because there is a devil on the loose, by all means, trying to make them fall. The devil never gives up on anybody; he believes that one day he can still get those standing to fall.
It is better to stand on the truth of God’s Word and die, than to compromise and live! Life becomes miserable for a Christian after compromising – making a concession that devalues or undermines his or her Christian profession. Judas Iscariot will confirm this to you if he could hear you from where he is now!
For thirty silver coins, Judas betrayed his master, but he couldn’t keep or spend the money. In fact, he discovered he didn’t need it! He returned it to the religious leaders who gave it to him, but they rejected it too, saying it was blood money. He threw it away and went to commit suicide (Matthew 27:3-6; Acts 1:18). It could be as bad as that for a compromiser. Proverbs 25:26 says, “If the godly compromise with the wicked, it is like polluting a fountain or muddying a spring” (New Living Translation). Don’t engage in evil compromise.
Psalm 119:2-3 says, “Happy are those who obey his decrees and search for him with all their hearts. They do not compromise with evil, and they walk only in his paths” (New Living Translation). If you compromise in a little, you will compromise in much. Before Judas made himself available to the devil to betray Jesus, he had been available to him to commit theft.
The Bible says in John 12:6 that Judas was a thief and had been pilfering from the purse of the ministry. The devil hardly changes a winning team! If you are useful to him in a little way, he will come for you when there is a bigger assignment. That’s why he came for Judas, and not any other disciple. Everyone who compromises with the devil loses the honour he has.
The devil has no regard for a believer who compromises. The future of a compromiser is bleak. Compromisers don’t end well except they repent, because life, success, and other good things come in obeying the Word of God.. Non- compromisers believe the Word against the world.
Many people start well, but compromise along the way. Compromise comes through association, interaction, observation, persecution, etc.
Whatever you gain by compromise, you will soon lose. You will need more compromises to keep whatever you gain by compromise. One compromise always leads to another. What you lose by compromise is greater that what you would have gained if you refuse to compromise.
Don’t allow the devil to deceive you by exaggerating what you’ll suffer if you don’t compromise. Avoid compromise, no matter the number of people involved in the acts in question. The number does not determine the rightness. Majority is not always right. Christianity does not encourage compromise. The world says, “If you cannot beat them, join them.” However, the Bible says, “Come ye out from among them and be ye separate” (2 Corinthians 6:17).
Don’t compromise even when you are in a tight corner. Be a Christian in every situation. It is not what is happening that is important, but your response to it. Until you allow it, the devil cannot force you to compromise.
6 examples of compromisers
1.Noah. Noah compromised. He is an example of a man who started well, but ended badly. He compromised at a point. You must be consistent in your walk with God, not compromising. Noah was guilty of drunkenness after the flood was over and was naked. He went ahead to curse his grandson, Canaan, for the sin of his father, Ham (Genesis 9:20-29).
2. Lot. Lot also compromised. He, too, was guilty of drunkenness, which led him to impregnate his two daughters (Genesis 19:30-38). The action of Lot’s daughter to make their father drunk so as to have sexual relations with them could be described as part of the influence of Sodom on them.
Be careful what you watch, observe and hear because in the time of stress when your guard may be down or your defence porous, you will fall for temptation from them.
3. Solomon. Solomon compromised in marriage against God’s instructions (1 Kings 11:1-2). He married women from nations God had forbidden Israelites from intermarrying with. Sadly, 1 Kings 11:4 says when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart after other gods; and his heart was not loyal to the LORD his God, as was the heart of his father David.
4. Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat was generally a good king, but he compromised in his relationship with Ahab, who was an evil king. He was nearly killed in the battle front. He went to that battle against the warning of a true prophet of God, Micaiah, who had been called at his insistence, to tell them the mind of God concerning the war. Ahab died in that war (2 Chronicles 18).
5. Demas. Demas compromised by loving this present world and forsook Paul (2 Timothy 4:10). He went into oblivion from then. His name was no longer mentioned in the Bible!
6. Pilate. Pilate also compromised even though he testified that Jesus was innocent. In spite of his wife’s warning, he still went ahead to beat Jesus and handed him over to the religious leaders to crucify. He said he was innocent of the blood of a just man, but was he really innocent? (Matthew 27:24-26).
Pilate wanted to please the Jews who wanted Jesus killed. Don’t live your life to please men and thereby, compromise the Word of God. Opinions can change, culture can change, but the Word of God does not change.
3 examples of non-compromisers
1. Daniel and his colleagues. Daniel (Belteshazzar), Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego refused to compromise even in a foreign land – Babylon (Daniel 1:8-16). God gave them somebody who helped them to stand by their decision. When you decide to stand upon the truth of God’s Word, God will raise at least one person who will support you. Any man who is out to please God cannot run away from offending men. No one who is not going to compromise can avoid stepping on toes.
2. Moses. Moses refused to compromise. He refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. That would have conferred so much advantage on him. He was being groomed to be the next Pharaoh, but that did not mean anything to him. He chose to suffer affliction with God’s people (Hebrews 11:23-26). If he had not, we most probably would not know and hear his name today. Don’t compromise your identity in Christ.
Moses also refused to compromise with Pharaoh on God’s command to let His people go, so that they might hold a feast to Him in the wilderness. Pharaoh initially said he would not let them go, but later began to negotiate the terms of their leaving, which were not acceptable to Moses. He insisted that all the Israelites must leave. Eventually, God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm (Deuteronomy 5:15).
Compromise is very dangerous and has caused negative consequences for many. It has led to death, humiliation, devastation and disgrace. Your stance not to compromise should not be a one-time or occasional affair; it should be a lifestyle and a lifetime principle. Non-compromise of yesterday cannot compensate for the compromise of today.
3. Naboth. Naboth refused to compromise his family heritage. He refused to sell the family vineyard to King Ahab; this principled stand cost him his life (1 Kings 21). The law forbade Israelites from selling family inheritance except in extreme cases of poverty and must be returned to the original owner in year of release (Leviticus 25:23-28; Numbers 36:7-9). It is better to die while refusing to compromise than to compromise and thereafter live a miserable life full of regrets. Your duty is not to be political or socially correct, but to do the will of God.
Conclusion: The lists of compromisers and non-compromisers are not exhaustive. There are other examples. When the issue at stake does not contradict the Word of God, but it is a matter of differences in style or methodology, we must allow the law of expediency to operate; we must be flexible and not dogmatic.
In Acts 21:17-26, Paul compromised because what he did was not against the fundamentals of the faith. “And when we had come to Jerusalem, the brethren received us gladly. On the following day Paul went in with us to James, and all the elders were present. When he had greeted them, he told in detail those things which God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. And when they heard it, they glorified the Lord. And they said to him, “You see, brother, how many myriads of Jews there are who have believed, and they are all zealous for the law; but they have been informed about you that you teach all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children nor to walk according to the customs. What then? The assembly must certainly meet, for they will hear that you have come. Therefore do what we tell you: We have four men who have taken a vow. Take them and be purified with them, and pay their expenses so that they may shave their heads, and that all may know that those things of which they were informed concerning you are nothing, but that you yourself also walk orderly and keep the law. But concerning the Gentiles who believe, we have written and decided that they should observe no such thing, except that they should keep themselves from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality.’ Then Paul took the men, and the next day, having been purified with them, entered the temple to announce the expiration of the days of purification, at which time an offering should be made for each one of them” (NKJV).
You will be prone to compromise when you are unequally yoked with unbelievers (2 Corinthians 6:14). Hardly is there anyone who has not compromised in at least one little area before. You don’t have to feel so bad to want to commit suicide like Judas. What God wants from you is true repentance. Judas only felt sorry; he didn’t repent. Godly sorrow works repentance. “For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death” (2 Corinthians 7:10 NKJV).
If you will truly repent today, God will forgive you and you can have a comeback from your great fall. Why don’t you go to the LORD now, pray a prayer of repentance and be reconciled back to God?
TAKE ACTION!
If you are not born again, you need to give your life to Jesus now. I urge you to take the following steps: *Admit you are a sinner and you cannot save yourself and repent of your sins. *Confess Jesus as your Lord and Saviour. *Renounce your past way of life – your relationship with the devil and his works. *Invite Jesus into your life. *As a mark of seriousness to mature in the faith, start attending a Bible-believing and Bible-teaching church. There they will teach you how to grow in the Kingdom of God.
Kindly say this prayer now: O Lord God, I come unto you today. I know I am a sinner and I cannot save myself. I believe that Jesus is the Son of God who died on the cross to save me and resurrected the third day. I repent of my sins and confess Jesus as my Lord and Saviour. I surrender my life to Jesus now and invite Him into my heart. By this prayer, I know I am saved. Thank you, Jesus, for saving me and making me a child of God.
I believe you have said this prayer from your heart. Congratulations! You will need to join a Bible-believing and Bible-teaching church in your area where they will teach you how to live your new life in Christ Jesus. I pray that you flourish like the palm tree and grow like the cedar of Lebanon. May you grow into Christ in all things and become all God wants you to be. I will be glad to hear from you. The LORD be with you.
T. O. Banso is the President, Cedar Ministry International, Abuja, Nigeria.
Phone No: +2348155744752, +2348033113523
WhatsApp No: +2349081295947
Email: cedarministryintl@yahoo.com,
cedarministryng@gmail.com
Website: www.cedarministry.org
  
  
  
  
