THE MISERABLE PLACE OF COMPROMISE

“He put on the coat of the North and the trousers of the South, and guess what? He got shot at from both sides! … This is what happens to the compromiser, the person who tries to live in two worlds. It’s one miserable place to be.” Greg Laurie

 

“No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” Matthew 6:24

 

Can you imagine a young lady caught in between? Outwardly, she dresses like the world, painting herself in the colors of Babylon, trying to blend into the crowd. Men are attracted to her because she looks like them. Yet, deep in her heart, something still belongs to God. She cannot go all the way into sin. She cannot plunge fully into immorality, though she tries to act as if she can. When her boyfriend expects her to compromise, to yield herself to sexual sin, she hesitates, she resists, she pulls back.

 

Now what happens? The world mocks her:

“What kind of girl are you? You look like us, but you won’t act like us!”

 

Meanwhile, the church cannot take her seriously either:

“She sings with us, but look at the way she lives! How can we commit a godly home to her?”

 

She is stranded between two camps, loved by none, respected by none, accepted by none. She is miserable, because she cannot feast with the Lord and dance with demons at the same table (1 Corinthians 10:21).

 

How can someone try to live in two compounds at once? How can one be climbing the dividing fence, perching there like a confused bird, one leg dangling into one compound, the other leg stretched into the other?

 

And in her mind she says, “I belong to both. I can enjoy both.” But in truth, both compounds see her as a stranger. She belongs to none. She is unsafe in both. She is uncomfortable everywhere. She is neither here nor there.

 

That is the picture of compromise, sis.

 

The compromiser thinks she is wise, but in reality she is the most pitiable of mankind. She thinks she is enjoying the best of both worlds, but in fact she is suffering the worst of both. The world mocks her because she carries the Bible but lives like them, and Heaven rejects her because she carries the Name of Christ but walks like the world. She is spat out like lukewarm water because she is neither refreshing nor useful (Revelation 3:16).

 

Compromise is misery, sis. It drains joy, weakens prayer, silences testimony, and steals power. No man ever became mighty in God by standing with one leg in Zion and the other in Babylon.

 

Elijah thundered on Mount Carmel: “How long halt ye between two opinions? If the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him.” (1 Kings 18:21).

 

God cannot defend divided loyalty. James warns us that “A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.” (James 1:8).

 

Lot’s wife was literally pulled between Sodom and salvation. Her body walked forward but her heart looked back, and she became a pillar of salt, frozen in her indecision.

 

Demas was once Paul’s fellow laborer, but because he loved this present world, he abandoned the faith (2 Timothy 4:10).

 

The rich young ruler stood so close to eternal treasure, but bound by compromise, he walked away sorrowful.

 

Dear sis, God is not calling you to mixture but to choice. Be either hot or cold. Don’t stay in between! He does not want half your heart, half your time, half your devotion. He is a jealous God, desiring all or nothing. To straddle both sides is to be shot at from both sides, and it is the most miserable place to be as Greg Laurie has rightly quoted. 

 

Ask yourself these questions:

1. Am I perched on the fence, trying to please both God and the world?

 

2. Do my choices, friends, and habits show full loyalty to Jesus, or do they betray a divided heart?

 

3. What is one step of compromise God is calling me to break off today?

 

 

Let Us Pray: 

Dear Father, save me from the misery of compromise! Take away from me every fence-sitting spirit. I refuse to wear the coat of the North and the trousers of the South. Clothe me with the garment of righteousness, and set my heart on fire for Jesus alone. Give me courage to say “NO” to the world and “YES” to Christ every day. Let my loyalty be clear, my love be total, and my testimony be undeniable. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Also Read: One Uncompromising Man