Compromisation: A Big Hurdle For Our Faith

Hello brothers and sisters. Compromisation can be a great thing when it comes to building relationships and coming to a common ground to blend and balance things out. However, when it comes to our faith, compromisation is a very common yet dangerous hurdle for believers. It can be very difficult as we are living in the world, and there are peer influences, societal standards, world-views or aggressive opinions of others. And as such, we may sometimes compromise our faith to gain approval, not be the odd one among the rest, to get the easy way out or to avoid conflict. For myself, I find it most easy to compromise when I feel tired or frustrated. This leads me to cutting away my time to pray or wanting to just turn to my phone for entertainment, instead of reading the Word. Now, we may all also have moment of compromisation as such or different situations. But the bible says, in 2 Corinthians 4:4 “The god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”

The Dangers of Faith Compromisation

The key phrase here is “blinding the minds”, and that is precisely how Satan and the world works. They blind the minds of men, by disguising itself in the form of fun, harmony, being validated by people or a positive vibe. And the worse part is that it works subtly. The world does not come straight up to you, to let you know how it thwarts your relationship with God, draw you away from church, cloud your consecrated spirit or beliefs. It comes in subtly by planting doubts in your faith and giving your empty but alluring promises of joy, satisfaction, freedom and convenience. Like “Are you sure you want to miss out on this? Get into someone’s bad books because of this?” Or “Just take a back seat and relax. It is fine to just go with the flow sometimes.” These kind of thoughts come by a lot. But we must remember that when we compromise in the little things, we will not be able to make a stand for our faith in the long run. And like 1 Peter 5:8, it says “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” So as we reflect upon the moments of compromisation in our faith living, let us not continue to fall into Satan’s traps and be devoured by his lies.

The Faith-Grounded Daniel

Now, we may all have heard of the story of Daniel and his three friends. In short, they were told not to worship God but something else. Like in the case of Daniel, he was asked to worship his royal master, Darius. But Daniel refused and continued to pray daily to God, being resolute that God is the true and only One he would worship. In the end, though Daniel was thrown into the den of lions for disobeying his human master, but because he was loyal and made a stand for his faith in His heavenly Master, God, the Lord made sure no harm would come onto him as He shut the lion’s mouth. Now, brothers and sisters, true faith will always go through testing and precisely because we struggle with the devil’s works, that is why it will come with some battles and trials. Like having differing world views with our peers, setting apart Sabbath Day to come before the Lord, not worshipping idols like the rest of our family members or finding time to meditate on God’s word even though we feel so sluggish. But as we strive through by the grit of our faith and hope in Christ, we will also start to see how these struggles of resolution and consecration from the world will prove to be adequate and gradually, God will deliver us in time. True faith requires perseverance and resolution against the subtle works of Satan that cause us to compromise our faith.

How to guard against compromisation of faith?
So how do we keep guarded against the compromisation of faith on the daily?

Identify potential pitfalls where we tend to compromise our faith.

Now, the very first thing we have to do, is to identify the potential pitfalls where we tend to compromise our faith. Is it particularly with this group of people that I tend to be more spiritually loose? Is it certain times of the day, when I feel more exhausted or bored? Are there any form of subtle ways that Satan is working on my faith now, like doubts and areas I cannot fully rely on Him for? Like when I was in my younger days, I know I always tend to compromise when I am with this certain group of friends. I tend to lie about how often I go church so they do not question me too much, or I will speak in a certain way to fit in with the group. So we need to be aware of where Satan tends to strike so that we know where to be more prepared or to be more guarded. When I started being more aware, every time before I met this group of friends, I made sure to pray and guard my heart beforehand. This helps a lot because it gives me more of a spiritual compass and direction as I interact with them.

Do not be too quick to respond. Exercise more introspection.

Then, the next thing is to slow down and do not be too quick to respond. Many times, when I have moments of compromisation of faith, it is because I am too quick to respond. I quickly want to say or do something just to move on, avoid an awkward moment or get a fast approval. But these are also times where Satan uses for us to act on impulses and later on, in my case, leads to accusations, misunderstandings or regrets. So instead of thinking of responding first, we should really exercise more introspection with the help of our Holy Spirit. We can always get back to the matter later again, or comment later after thinking through. When we keep consulting our spirit and God’s truth before we react, we will start to be more and more agile and precise in our spiritual sense. And this will lead us to having more spirit-filled responses, instead of an impulsive or compromised output.

Start and end the day being rooted in Truth

Now, like I said, Satan loves to work through subtle ways in our hearts and minds. So in order him at bay, we really need to start and end our every day being rooted in Truth. Hebrews 4:12 says, “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” We need to unceasingly wake up being refreshed and directed by God’s leading, and not merely our own intentions. Then, we end the day seeking God’s graces and giving thanks. If not, should we begin the day just thinking about our schedule, tasks, what we see on social media, what fun we plan to have, any attack in our spirits come and we will be spiralling down and controlled by our emotions or how the day goes. Now, brothers and sisters, when we keep rooting ourselves and commit all our works in God’s hands at the start and end of the day, we will also start to be more sensitive about God’s works in our lives and be able to detect better how Satan is trying to work against us even in the little things.

Be prepared as you continue growing in the Word

Finally, preparation is always the key. And as I said in the first point, we need to identify the potential ways we compromise so that we can be prepared for Satan’s attacks. But how do we get prepared? Sometimes, we compromise our faith and stands because we are unsure of what to say, lack the wisdom to say it or just prefer to brush off with the easy way. However, if we are continually equipping ourselves with the Word of God, testing and approving it in our own lives, we will naturally be more confident and convicted when we need to make certain stands. For example, if our friends question us about why we need to be so “hard-up” on attending service on Sundays instead of making time out for them, or if our unbelieving family members ask us about matters of God’s existence. Instead of making a passing remark or “joking” it off, we can have a prepared heart, mind and spirit to give them our Christian stand and make it relatable with our own testimonies. James 1:21, “Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.”

The Word of God is truly the breath of life and a saving grace for us as we are still in this world, but resoluting that we are not of it. As we battle against compromising our faith in our own living, our own roles and interaction with people, may we continue to cling onto God’s counsel and convictions in our spirits, to see the goodness of faithful perseverance. God bless.