“The safest road to hell,” wrote C.S. Lewis, “is the gradual one—the gentle slope, one that is soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.”
Many Christians do not believe that they can or will ever drift away from God. They see their devotion as being solid. However, compromise and a lack of spiritual discipline quickly open the door to temptation and sin.
Once we accept Christ as our Savior, the enemy knows his work of eternal destruction has been thwarted. However, he is relentless in his effort to work havoc in the lives of God’s people. Therefore, he goes to work in a different way. He knows that he cannot have our souls, but he remains committed to destroying our lives.
One of his greatest weapons against the body of Christ is pride. He seeks to tell us we are complete and worthy apart from the Lord. He wants us to feel good about our talents and abilities—so much so that we begin to make decisions without considering God’s purpose and plan. Before we know it, we have believed a lie and departed from our first love, which is the love of Christ.
There is nothing wrong with knowing God has gifted you and that He is the One who is using your abilities. The story, however, changes when you begin to take life into your own hands without regard to the Savior’s will.
Temptation by itself is not sin, but if left unchecked, it quickly leads to sin and broken fellowship with the Lord. You can say no to the subtle sin of compromise by asking the Lord to keep you close to Himself. Be committed to spending time in prayer with Him each day.
Prayer: Lord, forgive me for the times I have compromised my love for You.
9 comments:
I never thought of self sufficiency as sin. But,it is described here in a very clear way as following satan's lead.
Although I have been a faithful follower (and sinner) I have always struggled with spiritual discipline. My strength is not sitting still.
Lord - please lead me to pause and wait on you EVERY DAY
I think mine is going numb honestly. I sorta start operating in a haze and each day that passes, it gets easier and easier for me to not read or pray etc. The same with sins, it is easy to find yourself in a vicious cycle which is difficult to break. I pray we all can grow closer to our Father and we will not compromise our love for Him.
cas
Clark, I'm with you. I tend to settle for getting through the day on my own and being content with it. My life seems to be 'programmed' instead of having vitality to it when it comes to my faith. I'll get in the Word because my sunday school class for my kids requires me to. It's amazing how I then rationalize my sin slowly more and more when I'm in the 'comfortably numb' phase.
However, God is faithful and reaches out to me to knock me around to bring Him back into focus.
I pray that God's Spirit will reach us today to draw near to Him in the Word, in Prayer, and in Meditation to be better Christians for His purpose.
I never thought about compromising being a slippery slope but quickly looking over the last couple years of my life I can see how it works.
I choose to drive about 40 minutes to church on Sunday and somedays I just do not feel like driving. So I will make a compromise with myself and not go. Read the bible or watch "church" on TV. Dangerous, I know.
Today's prayer is very personal to me. Lord, forgive me for the times I have compromised my love for You.
- LT
That third paragraph REALLY jumps out at me. The combination of SELF and URGENCY is lethal to us. Taking our eyes off of Him simply plays into the big lie all the more.
LORD, help us to tighten our grip on You. Amen.
tba
God has laid this verse on my heart this week. I hope you don't mind, I copied it out of the Message so it sounds different from what we memorized in Top Gun.
g
PS Did you ever stop to think that we are not alone that our lives may be witnessed by many?
Hebrews 12
Discipline in a Long-Distance Race
1-3Do you see what this means—all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we'd better get on with it. Strip down, start running—and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we're in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he's there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!
Really cool G. Never heard that version.
cas
Pretty timely day to jump back in. (Not without a little help from God's warriors and my bic's).
Yeah, I'd have to say I agree with just about EVERYTHING you guys said, and feel like I've drifted for quite a while and in that sense have let my busyness get in the way of my spiritual life for far too long. It sure is easy to get caught up in God's incredible blessings and the things of this world that he has given us.
Just to get everything out on the table, I've struggled with three things recently: getting ready to move (family moves at the end of the month, I stay here for 1-3 months to finish PhD)-this has lead to lower productivity, signifnicant stress and struggles at home (all temporary, nothing major), (2) Just being close to finishing, and all of the pressures and long-term exhaustion that comes with that, and (3) (the outlet) internet surfing/casual online gaming, which is a nice distraction from the pressures/stresses until it interferes with getting the things I need to get done completed.
Whew- that's the most honest I've been about ALL the things weighing on me, not to mention being distant from God. I feel a little taller :) Anyway, I know I need this daily commitment to deal with the continuing and upcoming struggles.
As for today's reading, I'm pretty sure all of the abovementioned things have compromised my love and devotion to God. Thankfully our father has grace on poor saps like me.
Anyway, its good to be back and feel free to poke me if I'm not consistent.
In His AMAZING name,
crb
Thanks guys for all the amazing comments. I think God has spoken to all of us through this study. Remember there is no temptation that is before us that we can not find a way out(paraphrased 1Cor10:13). God, please bless all these men to continue to seek you each day and know that if we would only turn to you through our busy day, that you would show us the way.gch
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