COMPROMISE AND CONSEQUENCE
Some things make no sense at all. Like lighting a match to see if your gas tank is empty. Or stroking a rhino to see if he’s tame. Man, not smart! They’ve got a name for nuts who try such stunts. Victims. Or (if they live to tell the story) just plain stupid.
And yet there’s a strange species of Christian running loose today who flirts with risks far greater than any of the above. That’s right. And they will do so with such a calm face you’d swear they had ice water in their veins. You could never guess by a glance they are balancing on the thin edge of disaster. Who are they? They are the ones who rewrite the Bible to accommodate their life-style. We’ve all met them. From the skin out they have all the appearance of Your Basic Believer, but down inside, operation rationalization transpires daily. They are experts at rephrasing or explaining away the painful truth of the Bible.
How do they think? Well, it’s not very complicated. Whenever they run across Scripture verses or principles that attack their position, they alter them to accommodate their practice. That way, two things occur:
1, All desires (no matter how wrong) are fulfilled.
2. All guilt (no matter how justified) is erased.
That way everybody can do his own thing and nobody has any reason to question anybody’s action. If he does, call him a legalist and plow right on. Oh yeah, you’ve gotta talk a lot about grace, too. That helps to spook the bunch who would otherwise criticize.
What are some examples? Just look around and listen. Here is a sampling of accommodating theology:
· God wants me to be happy. I can’t be happy married to her. So I’m leaving … and I know He’ll understand.
· There was a time when this might have been considered immoral. But not today. The Lord gave me this desire and wants me to enjoy it.
· Look, nobody’s perfect. So I got in deeper than I planned. Sure, it’s a little shady, but what’s grace all about, anyway?
· Me? Ask His forgiveness? That’s ridiculous. My relationship with God is much deeper than shallow techniques like that.
· Hey, if it feels good, have at it! Life’s too short to sweat the small stuff. We’re not under law, you know.
· So what if a little hanky-panky . . . a little fun ‘n games goes on? What’s life about without some spice and risk? All those “thou shalt nots” are unrealistic.
If that’s true … if that’s right, then what in the world does it mean to be holy?
As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:14-16)
Or pure?
For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality . . . abstain from every form of evil. (1 Thessalonians 4:3, 5:22)
Or under grace?
What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be! (Romans 6:15)
Or undefiled?
Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage be undefiled; for fornicators and adulterers God will judge. (Hebrews 13:4)
The simple fact is this: We reap precisely what we sow. If we sow a life-style that is more comfortable or easier or even happier – but is in direct disobedience to God’s revealed Word – we ultimately reap disaster.
Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh shall from the flesh reap corruption… (Galatians 6:7-8a)
It may not come soon … but it will come. And when it does, no one will have to explain what it means to be holy, pure, under grace, or undefiled. When the bills come due, the wages of willful sin are paid in full. God may seem slow, but He doesn’t compromise with consequences.