It has been on my heart to share about the danger of compromise.

Recently, I binge watched a show that I am a bit embarrassed to say. I wish I was about to share that I binge watched The Chosen, even though I did binge watch that and I loved it! However, the show I was watching is called Love is Blind.

Some of my friends were very into watching Love is Blind and they told me you have to watch it! So we watched the first episode together and I loved it! It was hilarious. I was so intrigued as we watched it together at a girls night! We made it through two episodes and the next night I started watching the third episode by myself. Christian, my husband, then walked in and asked what in the world I was watching. I told him “boy, sit down, this is so good”.

So we watched this show, and I have to be honest with you, this is NOT a good show. If you watch this show you know what I am talking about! It does not exactly align with our morals. So…I’m watching this show and I start to feel convicted. However, I was so invested at this point that I ignored my conviction. And you know what’s worse? I then start excusing my conviction. I told myself that I never watch this type of stuff, everyone watches it, it’s not that serious so it’s not that big of a deal. I kept trying to ignore my conviction and I kept watching the show. Unfortunately, I ended up watching the entire season ignoring this conviction.

Sadly, about halfway through the season I went to another level. I didn’t just ignore or excuse my conviction but I started to think of all the good reasons as to why I was watching Love is Blind. I started telling my friend that it’s actually a good thing that we are watching this show because it is teaching us what not to do in marriage. I also thought this show is now helping me relate to people more so I can talk about ideas like this on my podcast. All of a sudden I tried to convince myself that it wasn’t just an excusable thing to watch Love is Blind but a good thing!

What I really want to talk to you about is that it can get really dangerous when you get good at looking and sounding spiritual. This is especially problematic when you know the right thing to say and you know how to make it look good when in reality your heart is in the wrong place. It is a scary place to be and that is where I was.

And before I lose you and you think, this is so un-relatable and watching that show really is not that big of a deal, compromise actually is a really big deal. Compromise has big consequences and it always starts out small but ends up being a really big deal.

I was actually watching a sermon during that time of my life where I heard Brooke Ligertwood say compromise is convincing yourself it is okay to do the wrong thing if it is for the right reason, and that is really where I was at. I told myself that it was okay if I was doing the wrong thing because I was doing it for the right reason!  But here is the thing, I have gotten good at knowing how to convince myself that something is good, and that is really dangerous. Now the Bible shows us how dangerous that is. Of course, it talks about the path that seems right for men but in the end leads to death (Proverbs 14:12). However, it really plays this out in the story of Judas.

Maybe you’re now thinking “oh my goodness, this is so extreme. Are you comparing my life to Judas because I was watching Love is Blind?”. The answer is no. But what I am saying is that if you ignore your conviction and you continue to compromise, these little things can end up being a really big thing. And honestly when it comes to the life of Judas, before it got bad it was actually looking pretty good! Judas was one of the 12 disciples, he was in close proximity to Jesus. Of all the people, he was one of the twelve! He wasn’t so bad, he knew how to do the right thing, he was following Jesus. He dedicated his life to doing this. But, it was these little compromises that ended up having really big consequences.

In John 12 we see a foreshadowing of maybe what was to come in Judas’ life. It says “Six days before the Passover celebration began, Jesus arrived in Bethany, the home of Lazarus—the man he had raised from the dead. A dinner was prepared in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, and Lazarus was among those who ate with him. Then Mary took a twelve-ounce jar of expensive perfume made from essence of nard, and she anointed Jesus’ feet with it, wiping his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance.”

Many of us have heard that part of the story, this woman fully devoted her life to Jesus, pouring out her perfume. However, it is the next verse that I want to focus on. It says: “But Judas Iscariot, the disciple who would soon betray him…” So this is hindsight, this is looking back and saying Judas was there and was about to betray Jesus. Judas says, “Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor?”. How spiritual of him! How good did that sound! It wasn’t like his intentions were obvious! It wasn’t like he was just sitting there making fun of her. It was not clear that his heart was in the wrong place. It actually sounded good that he was requesting that it be given to the poor.

And see, that is the reason why compromise is such a big deal. It is normally something that no one else can call you out for. It is something that no one else sees. You look good, you sound good. However, only YOU know the conviction in your heart and only YOU can be obedient to follow that.

In James it talks about if you know what is wrong and you continue to do it for you, it is a sin (James 4:17). I knew watching Love is Blind was wrong but I continued to do it, so that is why it was a big deal for me.

John 12 goes on to say: “He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it”. Honestly, that is why we compromise right? It’s because it helps us. We compromise because we want to have fun, we want to be relatable to people, we want to climb a ladder, we get to enjoy that satisfaction. We compromise because that specific thing in the moment just seemed better than listening to our conviction.

I love how John Piper talks about the essence of good and evil. He speaks to the fact that the essence of evil is not just breaking God’s commands rather it is desiring something over God. It is in those moments of compromise that we just desire what we are feeling and experiencing in the moment more than we want to follow God.

Maybe this message sounds discouraging to you as it is not some hype up message. However, that is because I believe God really does have a full life for you and He wants to do something incredible for you. He has a life for you that is meant to be lived to the full. And I believe that it is the compromising you are a part of that is keeping you from the fullness of that life! Now what is fullness?

Once I was preaching a message about fullness and I asked the crowd how many people wanted to live in the fullness of God. And I was shocked, only half the room raised their hands. Why would you not want to live in the fullness of God? Why wasn’t everyone raising their hands?

I think it is because we know that to live in the fullness of God, it requires us following him fully. And so many of us want to be one foot in with God and one foot in with the world so we can still be cool, relatable, have fun, and have worldly satisfaction. But with those things people question why they don’t experience complete fullness. It is because they have yet to fully dive in.

So, what exactly does fullness look like and what does it promise? Fullness of God is amazing. God is love – that is who he is. Fullness is the fruit of the spirit: love, joy, peace, etc. But even if we were to stop with just those 3 fruits of the spirit, isn’t that what we all desire? To be loved, to have peace in an anxious world, to be joyful in a depressed generation, to have hope that this world is not our home and there is something better to come (TYJ!), that we would have peace that surpasses all understanding, joy as our strength, love eternally, purpose, passion, family, community. The fullness of God is everything you ever wanted. Compromise temporarily satisfies but God offers eternal hope, eternal good.

Why am I sharing this message that seems so serious? Because there are serious consequences to compromise and there is seriously good news in Jesus.

When I think about compromise and convictions, I remember one time Jennie Allen preached years ago. She came up on stage and said she was about to confess the biggest thing she ever confessed. She shared that she doubted God. And I remember being like and…? I mean, I’ve doubted God, is that really that big of a deal? But Jennie felt so convicted by it, she felt so bad and she was so disturbed that she let herself get to the place of doubting God. And I remember thinking at the time that that seemed relatively small to make such a big deal about. But do you know what’s so amazing? I started thinking about this recently because of how incredible Jennie’s ministry has been year after year. She touches millions of people around the world every year with her ministry. And if she would’ve allowed that compromising voice in her head that doubted God to grow and fester, it could have destroyed her ministry, her marriage, and other godly things in her life.

In James it says that sin once conceived eventually gives birth to death. So it seemed like a small thing but the consequences of it would’ve been great. However, her responding to it led to so much fruit. These things may seem like a small deal but they have big consequences.

For example, cheating on tests in high school may not seem like a big deal career wise but if I was getting brain surgery and the surgeon said he cheated his whole way through medical school I would not allow him to do surgery on me! All of a sudden his compromise is a big deal! Or if I were to get on a flight to Nashville and the pilot said he cheated his whole way through aviation school, I would not get on his plane!

What I am trying to say is, it might not seem like a big deal to you to compromise on certain things but it can be detrimental for someone else. Therefore, we cannot compare our convictions to other people’s convictions. Other people may not have the same calling as you so they won’t have the same convictions as you. If you know it’s wrong and you continue to do it, it is a sin for you.

I am a speaker, I get on stage with a microphone, I have a podcast, where I am constantly speaking publicly on that platform, so it is not good for me to sit and watch a show that is dropping F-bombs and having inappropriate language. From the heart so the mouth shall speak (Luke 6:45). So it is a big deal for me, I need to protect my heart and protect my mind.

Sometimes I feel like we say these things are “gray areas” but in all honesty, that’s just a way for us to say we are just going to compromise. There is not a lot of gray in the Bible. The Bible is very clear.

But here is the thing, don’t feel guilty or ashamed for your convictions. Christian once told me to not feel so much shame when I feel convicted, rather receive it as a gift that God loves me so much that He says I am better than that. I love that perspective – conviction is not meant to shame us. Lean into God when you feel that shame – be thankful that He loves you so much that He knows you are better than that. Ask God to constantly convict and purify your heart!

In Genesis 1, God created light and He separated it from the darkness, and every superhero movie agrees with that. I’ve never seen a movie where the hero and villain want to team up. Gray literally means a color without color – it is nothing. And you were not called to be nothing! You were called to be the light of the world! We live in a dark world, and it is getting darker. Even though that is scary, the answer to the darkness is you, Jesus in you! You are the light of the world! You are the answer to the problems going on in the world. It is a big deal to live in the gray.

Another example of this compromise is my 2 ½ year old daughter Honey. Every day I have to remind her that a fire will burn her. She loves to touch fires! And the other day I saw her walking up to the fireplace and she was looking at me, she knew it was hot. And she laid down next to it and said “I’m just going to just chill by the fire.” Her comment made me think of the fact that that is how we deal with sin, we just want to get right up next to it and “chill” by it. But I told Honey, and I am telling you, you can chill by it, but that fire, or sin, will burn you if you touch it. And if you know you are tempted by it, it is probably best you don’t just chill by it. We have to get serious about the things we know are bringing us down. We have to get serious about the things we know the enemy is using to kill and destroy our life. We have to be strong enough to say no, I will not keep hanging out by the fire.

This has been a problem since the beginning of humanity. In Genesis 3 it says “Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say…”. Isn’t that exactly what we say about gray areas?

The rest of those verses say “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’ ”

Now I think this is interesting because Eve actually knew what God said. I think that is important to note because you can know what God says is true and still, when tempted, fall. But look what changed, she went from knowing that was true until the enemy said “you will not surely die”. The enemy is telling you it’s not that big of a deal.

But in verse 5 it says the enemy said “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” This is something that I fear for our generation. We want to be the ones that define good and evil. However, God has already defined this. There is already the Way and already the Truth to get to the Father.

In verse 6 it says, “When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.” This shows that your compromise does not just affect you but it also affects those around you. Especially if you are a leader and Christ-follower, others may think well they are doing it so it is okay for me to do it. We bring people into our compromise, into our sin.

Verse 7 then states “Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.” See, that is the danger of sin. When we sin and feel that shame, we want to hide from God. But don’t hide from God because in verse 9 it says “But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”. God was looking for them, He doesn’t want you to be stranded in your shame.

Now, for those of you who feel convicted by this message and want to live in a life where you do not compromise, 1 John 1 says “This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.”

I love how it says we can’t be living in light and in darkness. But also, if you say you don’t have sin you are lying to yourself. So the answer to all this is to let the blood of Jesus redeem you.

1 John 1:9 says “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” So if you are worried about living in the fullness of God because you think that is too much of a task to take on, the hard part is already done. Jesus already paid the price for the transformation. And he didn’t even end it there, he sent the Spirit to live in us, to convict us and call us to a life of fullness. It reminds you of the Truth and the heart of the Father.

If you don’t want to live in your sin anymore, lean into the blood of Jesus. If you feel convicted, thank God that He is calling you to greater things. And if you are worried that people already know you as you currently are and it will be so hard to break that and be someone else, that is the power of the gospel! The reason Jesus being alive is so cool is because He once was dead and now He is alive! So for you to transform into a new creation and look like a totally different person from now on, you get to be a walking miracle and testimony of the grace of God. There is no shame in that, that is one of the coolest experiences we get to be a part of as Christ followers.