A life without compromise…
May 8th, 2009 by ljkim
It’s easy to get the wrong idea about compromise. I believe compromise is good between two people, two nations, two cultures, or more. And I believe that you often have to compromise your standards, and that it’s healthy to do so (ala what Judith Warner wrote yesterday). But I don’t think you have-to compromise when it comes to knowing and loving and following Jesus.
Ducks don’t have to compromise when it comes to swimming, because they were made to swim (and to fly). Horses don’t need to compromise when it comes to running, they were made to run. If you keep them from running they lose some of their spirit and health. They don’t need to compromise when it comes to these things because they were made for it…and in some radical way, I believe we were made to follow this first century Jewish carpenter.
Now I’m not trying to convince you that you should follow Him too, I’m talking to Christians who already say they believe that this man is the fully human yet perfect representation of God…when it comes to doing that which you are made to do, it requires a passion and directness and purity of intent.
When it comes to other things you always have to balance priorities…you have many masters to please. The Bible often uses the sheep metaphor to describe us: sheep tend to see grass and wander away until they see more grass and go further, only to find they don’t know where they are anymore… The life of sheep is filled with compromise: not only do they have to find food, but then they have to find water. Not only water, but shelter from the elements, and from predators. No wonder sheep are so nervous, they have a lot of needs to keep in balance to survive. And they generally don’t survive for long on their own… God’s alternative is instead of being sheep, to become sheep with a Shepherd. For sheep who have a shepherd, their priorities are no longer divided… Yes they still need food and shelter and water, but they don’t need to balance and prioritize anymore…instead they must do just one thing: Follow the Shepherd.
Our church is built on this core idea: What if we didn’t compromise when it comes to God? What if we let go of the cultural baggage surrounding Christianity and just followed Jesus as we are? …without compromise? Sometimes people think we’re compromising because we don’t dress in suits for worship – but I say they’re missing the point.
Related posts:
I’m with you, but I can’t help but cry, ‘It’s not that simple.’ Some of what you call cultural baggage (although you specifically mentioned the Christian type) seems inextricably interwoven into our existence. Perhaps compromise isn’t the word to describe the solution, but I feel like ’something’ must be done in order to remain in, but not of the world.
I thought of these two items while reading this blog entry, would love to hear what you think.
http://www.christianity.com/gospelcoalition/Default.aspx?speaker=Keller
(if you can’t listen and respond to the whole thing, I’d love to hear what you have to say about the point starting from the 27:14 mark)
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/note.php?note_id=178676880300
(I’ve taken the liberty of emailing the text to you in the event that you can’t view it due to FB friend permissions)
Hey Vincent,
I think we might be talking about slightly different things, but I’m not sure. What’s the area of complication that makes it ‘not so simple?’ Anyway, I know you have a meaningful point, I’m just missing it at the moment…help!
Thanks for the text of “Sex and Single Christians” (I haven’t watched the video yet) – I think the topic illustrates what I’m talking about… Our natural instinct is to try to serve both sex AND God (or God AND money, or God AND career)… But the point of having a Shepherd is He knows what we need. Instead of giving the Shepherd a place in the sheep’s hierarchy of needs, the wise sheep does well to just follow the shepherd. So when it comes to Sex and the Single Christian the question is mainly “what does God want concerning unmarried people and sex?” Unfortunately for those who are unmarried, the Bible pretty much says what you think it says. But fortunately, I think God does know what He’s talking about when it comes to sex…as well as anything else sheep might need.