Stand Your Ground

“A righteous man falling down before the wicked is as a troubled fountain, and a corrupt spring.”  Proverbs 25:26

“Go along to get along”.  Isn’t that what a lot of folks do to avoid either confrontation or being called one of several names that seem to be so popular now, like “racist”, “white supremacist”, “anti-democracy”, “fascist”, or even “party pooper”.  This is how some people like to attempt to intimidate others into going along with their policies, ideas, or plans.  Many compromise, but not in a mutual way.  To compromise, as defined by Mr. Webster, is “to settle or adjust by concessions on both sides”.  What many desire is not for others to compromise, but rather a complete surrender to the policy or plan put forth by the opposition.  Depending on the subject matter, that might not be a problem, that is, if it is something that is rather insignificant in the overall scheme of things.  However, most plans which require compromise usually affect folks sometimes negatively, particularly the side which gives up the most.

Solomon, the writer of most of the Proverbs, compared a righteous man, one of integrity, who submits to the one whose intentions are evil, as a fountain of polluted water or a spring of water in which the sediment has been stirred up.  Once in a while, a fire hydrant will be opened in my neighborhood which allows the sediment in the underground pipes to get stirred up, and it is usually when I have a load of laundry in my washing machine.  I don’t know that it is happening, but when the washer is finished, and I began to pull out the washed clothes, everything that was white is now beige, much dirtier than it was before I washed it.  I do have a product that will get out that stain, but it costs about six dollars of stain removal to rewash one load.  Even so, it works, and if I desire that my whites be white again, I have to pay the cost.

When folks compromise their faith or bypass it altogether by going along with some questionable plan or idea cooked up by someone whose only interest is in an outcome that will benefit him or her, their faith becomes polluted by sin.  Do you think that sinner cares whether or not the believer who caves in to the sin has compromised his or her faith?  Of course not.  Sinners are only concerned about their desires and will use believers to get their way.  They are not concerned about what God thinks.  But the believer better be more concerned about what God thinks than trying to appease an unbeliever by going against what the believer knows is right.  Unless a Christian is well-grounded in God’s word and is strong in his or her faith, then he or she can become deceived and fall into a trap set by the unscrupulous.  He or she may not even realize that they have been tricked until it is too late.  They will be like those white t-shirts that turned a dingy beige in the muddied waters of the washing machine.  They will have polluted their holiness before God until they repent of their sins and ask for God’s forgiveness.  He will forgive and cleanse them from all unrighteousness which they had allowed to compromise their faith (I John 1:9).

In order to stand one’s righteous ground, one has to be grounded in God’s word and growing in grace.  It is not a sin to be tempted to do something outside the standard of godly behavior; it is a sin to give in to that temptation.  God makes a way to not fall into the trap of temptation (I Corinthians 10:13), but the believer must take God’s way of escape regardless of the name-calling, ridicule, or shunning by one’s peers.  How do you think a true believer will feel the next day after he or she falls down in submission to the wicked, particularly after the Holy Spirit has worked him or her over pretty well?  Not so good, I suspect.  How will one feel after compromising one’s faith, but then truly repenting and being forgiven?  A lot better, I am sure.  However, the best option is to maintain a strong faith by depending on the Lord, staying in His word, resisting the devil and his tricks, and not fearing the ungodly.  God help us all to stand our ground as Your faithful servants and not to fear those who would try to destroy our witness.