Weekly Devotional 6-5-18 Not Just for the Sake of Unity
Compromise for the sake of unity seems to be the direction many have taken in the secular world of our day. Unfortunately, this is also true of the religious world. It seems that more and more people are willing to accept the views of others for the sake of unity, but does this not lead to chaos in both realms? In both realms there must be absolutes. If not, there can be no standard of law or firm direction of life. Everyone will do that which is right in his or her own eyes, but how can any society, secular or religious, survive such a determination? It cannot, and because it cannot, laws have been established to govern both realms. In the secular world laws do very from society to society or country to country determined by the morality of the given society, but persons are to live by the structures set forth by their societies.
This is equally true in the religious world. Every religion has set forth determinations of how people are to live within said religion, be it Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Muslim and so on. As to Christianity, we note that it has been called of God to follow certain governances which are not to be compromised. These governances are based on dictums of the church structured on the teachings of Jesus Christ and the apostles. Their teachings, in turn, are based on Ten Commandments that God gave Israel many centuries ago.
1) You shall have no other gods before Me.
2) You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth.
3) You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.
4) Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
5) Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the LORD your God gives you.”
6) You shall not murder.”
7) You shall not commit adultery.”
8) You shall not steal.”
9) You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.”
10) You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
We also note that these commandments are just that, they are commandments, not suggestions. The first four are commands of relationship between God and man. The remaining six are commands of relationships between persons. Unity springs forth by obeying these commandments; unity between God and man and unity between persons. Natural man (spiritually un-regenerated man) rejects God and is becoming increasingly hostile towards Him, and towards those who stand for Him. The Ten Commandments have become subjective to them. They do not see them as God’s absolutes. We Christians are under constant pressure to compromise our loyalty to God and indulge ourselves in the philosophies and practices of the natural man. It takes courage, discipline and the empowerment of the Holy Spirit to stand firm against these philosophies and practices. But, we are called to ‘be holy, as He is holy’ (1 Peter 1:15-16), living without compromise even in the face of opposition. As Christians (spiritually born-again persons) we’ve been given the respons-ibility to uphold God’s word. This cannot be done if we compromise, for the sake of unity, or any other reason. We’ve been filled with the Spirit of God, and in His power we will be able to stand firm. We must remember that ‘greater is He who is in us, than he who is in the world’ (1 John 4:4).”
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Transforming Power; The Work of God on Behalf of Man