Do Not Compromise

Today was a very good teaching to hear at Church. We read the story from Matthew 8:28-34 when Jesus crossed over the Jordan to the land of the Gadarenes. If you don't know the story, these were the descendants of the tribe of Gad who did not cross over the Jordan to settle in the land where the Lord provided but decided to stay on the East Bank. Because of their compromise, we find them in the time of Jesus raising pigs and dealing with large numbers of demons.

Also, because of their compromise, we read their reaction to Jesus in verse 34:

And behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus; and when they saw Him, they implored Him to leave their region.

Jesus just removed hundreds of demons from their midst. However, because they had made compromises and were so used to living contrary to God's plan for their lives they wanted nothing to do with Jesus and told Him to get out as fast as possible.

The same can be true in our lives as Christians. Do we want Jesus around when we do the things we do? Do we tell Him to go away because we know we are doing things He would want us to avoid or cut out of our lives? So many Christians do this today, and I have been guilty of this myself. The Bible tells us in Isaiah 59:2:

But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.

They can also keep you from wanting the Lord around when He tries to clean you up as was the case with the Gadarenes. Jesus was with them, He was casting out demons, He was ridding them of their herds of swine yet they told Him to get out.

When we are walking in a way contrary to God's will in our lives, do we tell Jesus to get lost when He tries to clean us up?

The best thing to do is never to make those compromises. I have found that the best times in my life are those where I made the tougher decision to make no compromise and follow after the Lord. The initial decision was more difficult to make but the path that it took me down was much more joyful, fulfilling, and blessed.

One area that comes to mind right away in my life is drugs and alcohol. I can say that the Lord protected me and gave me the strength to make no compromise in these areas. I have never smoked a cigarette, never smoked a joint, never taken any drugs, never been drunk. (Other than a sip of beer from my dad, I didn't consume a full glass of alcohol until I turned 21 and had only one drink.) As a high school teacher, kids laugh at me when I tell them this and most do not believe me. Nearly all their other teachers have done some or all of these things and many smoke pot and get drunk to this day.

Then, and this is what blows me away and saddens me greatly, they go on to tell stories of how their dad is an alcoholic, or how their mom's boyfriend was passed out in throw-up from the night before, or how drunk they got at a party. All I hear from their stories is grossness and tragedy. The Lord saved me from any of this stuff. I have never experienced any of this because I made no compromise and the Lord gave me the strength to follow through and my life is so much better because of it.

That does not mean I have been perfect in every area of my life. I have made compromises before and it made things much harder. It cause a period in my life where I was not close to the Lord and my prayers were not being heard. Luckily for me, I was not like the Gadarenes and when the Lord wanted to clean me up I ran back to Him with a repentant heart.

People think that religion is something that you cling to when you are sad or when times are bad but they don't get it. Religion (True, Christ centered religion) is something we need to cling to when times are good. When everything is going well, we need Jesus the most because He is the reason for those good times. That is the true sign of the sincerity of our faith in Christ. Fortunately for us, however, Christ will be right there waiting for us if we forget about Him during those good times and call on Him when things go bad.

I look out into this world and get so sad when I see how many people have rejected Jesus. Our Father in Heaven loves us so much that even though we have sinned against Him, rejected His plan for our lives, and try to make it on our own, He came down to us in the form of a man so that He could live a perfect life in our place, take the wrath that we deserve, and die on a cross for our sins. He did all the work so that we could live with Him for all eternity. Our God is a God of love, a God of hope, and a God of eternal peace yet people want to do things their own way. Hell was not made for people but our loving God is also perfectly just and will let anyone go there who wants to do things their own way.

Sin cannot be in the presence of the Lord so we have a choice when He comes in to clean us up. We can run to Him and give Him a big hug, fall down in repentance, and worship Him. Or, we can do what the Gadarenes did and tell Him to go away.