Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.  Romans 1:24-25

The term happy medium is defined as a satisfactory compromise. When two parties disagree, we think it is good if they can strike a happy medium. Sadly, we are seeing way too much compromise these days. People are compromising their values. They go along to get along. Isaiah 5:20 warns us about calling evil good and good evil and calling bitter sweet and sweet bitter.

I can’t find any scripture that tells us we should compromise our faith or our beliefs just because someone else strongly opposes them. Paul tells us in Romans 12:2 that we should not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of our minds that we may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. We can’t prove God’s will if we are bending to the will of others. We say things like we just have to love each other and get along. Well, you got half of that right. We do have to love everyone, but we don’t have to agree with what they do. We can love the sinner, but hate the sin.

There was a statement the other day in our Sunday School lesson that hit me hard. It said that heresy can lead to damnation. If we believe a lie about the Bible we could go to hell because of false beliefs. We can’t allow ourselves to obey heretical teachings. By this I mean we cannot listen to preachers or teachers that are saying anything that goes against what is in the Bible. Our pastor tells us regularly to fact check him by making sure that everything he tells us lines up with what is in the Bible.

There is no happy medium when it comes to God’s word. There is no compromise. There is God’s word and that’s it. We must be very careful that we don’t fall for false teachings. We must be very careful that we don’t try to apply our own thoughts and ideas when we study God’s word, but that we pull the true meaning from His Holy Word. We should not read it with preconceived ideas about what we think it says. We should study it to find the true meaning.

The Bible is God’s Holy Word. We are told in 2 Peter 1:21 that no prophecy came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. We are told in 2 Timothy 3:16 that all Scripture is given by the inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.

If we believe in God and we believe in His Holy Word, then we must be prepared to stand up for Him. We must not compromise. We must not accept anything we are told. And even though we should love the sinners, we must be very careful not to fall in love with their sinful behavior. We are told in Galatians 6:1 that if someone is doing wrong that those of us who are spiritual should correct them with gentleness but should watch out that we aren’t also tempted to sin.

We are living in perilous times and I have no doubt that the end is near. This should not scare those of us who are saved, we should be looking forward to be pulled out of this mess. But, I encourage you to hold tight to your beliefs and not to allow anyone to convince you to compromise.

Our scripture passage today tells us that if we get into sin and fail to repent that we will be given over to it. This means that God will let us have our way. He gives us free will so we can choose to stand up to sinful behavior or to compromise and go along with it. The choice is yours. But remember we are in the last days so be very careful.

Turn to God today. Ask Him to remove any sin from you, both intentional or unintentional. Ask for His forgiveness and ask Him to fill you with His Holy Spirit to help you to sin no more. I beg of you not to wait. Tomorrow may be too late. Stand up today for what is right and refuse to compromise. It’s time we come to realize that there is no happy medium, there is only sorrow that comes from a sinful life and peace and joy that comes from a life lived in Christ. We have to make a choice.

Have a great weekend!