A life Uncompromised

Everyone can be bought..... It’s just a matter of at what price....

I remember hearing this statement repeated years back. Especially after the movie "Indecent Proposal" came out. Do you remember the movie? Robert Redford played a very rich man that desires to sleep with Demi Moore. Demi Moore was married to Woody Harrelson; they were very much in love but struggled financially. Robert Redford offers Demi one million dollars to spend the night with him. His comment in the movie is "everyone can be bought; it’s just a matter at what price". I remember wondering how true that statement was with most people.

Regrettably, it is probably true for most of the world. Society puts such a premium on wealth that a large percentage of people will compromise their morals at some price. Most everyone has a price at which they will compromise, even if it’s not a monetary thing.

So what's your price? Is it a monetary figure? Is it to feel safe? Is it to save yourself from rejection? At what point are you willing to compromise what Gods word says?

We all say, "No way, I would never do that!" but in reality we do it all the time. When we fail to follow through with what we promise, we compromise. When we sell ourselves short, we compromise. When we set out to do Gods work but don't do it, we compromise. When we stop short of being bold for Christ, we compromise. When we fail to be all that God intended us to be, we compromise. We have the best of intentions but in the end, we fall short of what we intended. In those times, we had a price.

In Luke 22 we read the story of Simon Peter. Jesus is telling Peter that Satan has asked to sift him like wheat. Meaning that Satan wants to test his dedication to Christ. Then Jesus tells Peter that He has prayed for him, that his faith would not fail and when he returned to Him, Peter would strengthen his brethren. Right here, Jesus reveals that even though he knows that Peter's faith will fail, he prays for him anyway. He also prays that after his faith has failed he would return back to Him and then strengthen his brothers in Christ.

In verse 33 Peter says this to Jesus "Lord, I am ready to go with You, both to prison and to death." He's telling Jesus "No way Lord, I won't compromise, I would die for you!" In verse 34 Jesus tells him "I tell you Peter, the rooster shall not crow this day before you will deny three times that you know Me." In other words, you know who I am and have walked with Me for three years but you will fail and compromise what you believe and deny Me not once but three times. Later in verses 54-62 we see these words come true. Peter follows at a distance while they arrest Jesus and take Him away. As Peter denies Jesus the third time the rooster crows. Peter remembers the words Jesus spoke to him, goes out and weeps bitterly.

So often we think we are much stronger than we really are. We are fooled into thinking that we have the power to withstand the sifting by Satan on our own. Invariably, what happens when we try to stand up to testing alone is failure. It is in this attempt to stand alone that we end up compromising the things we believe and the things we stand for. Even at times causing us to deny Christ, the thing we hold most dear to us. It doesn't have to be an outright denial to be considered denying Christ. Sometimes it’s a fear of rejection that keeps us from speaking up. Or maybe it’s just keeping our mouth shut when we ought to speak the truth.

After the resurrection of Christ, Jesus sends the Holy Spirit to the disciples. We see later in Peter’s journey that he becomes bold in his witness, even to the point of death. He preaches the gospel with no compromise, professing the truth to all. The difference in his change of nature had to do with the spirit within him. He relied on the Holy Spirit within him to keep him steadfast and strong in conviction. It was not by his strength that he stood strong to the testing of Satan and pressure of the world but by the spirit within him.

If we too are going to withstand testing and live an uncompromised life we must do as Peter did. We must live in and rely on the Holy Spirit that lives within us. We must know that the small voice in us that says "No way Lord, I would never do that" is our own pride talking. The truth, if we choose to admit it, is we do not have the strength to stand on our own and this too He must do for us.

Lord, let us live a life uncompromised. Let us realize that this too must be done by you. Give us the humility to rely on you to keep us standing strong in the faith.