Unlimited: Rules Are Not Enough
Dec 17, 2021 838
Show me Your ways, O Lord; Teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me, For You are the God of my salvation (Psalm 25:4–5, NKJV).
Issues are rarely right or wrong. Often they are between what is bad, and what is less bad. A wise person learns that “when two duties conflict, one ceases to be a duty.”
Error lies close to truth. Because values constantly come into conflict, the Christian is never relieved from the “strain” of faith: the necessity of constantly throwing oneself afresh upon the guiding Spirit of God. Amid life’s bewildering circumstances, faith always looks beyond self to God, the Source of wisdom and strength, for each moment’s new decision.
Christians will find mere rules quite inadequate. Rules must change with situations, though principles never change. Only the prayerful, studious Christian will move wisely most of the time, even in the wider arena of compromise.
Rules must change with situations, though principles never change.
Is compromise easy for the Christian? Never! Can a Christian avoid compromise altogether? Never! Our lives are a mixture of change and stability, so every Christian will learn to adapt, while having unyielding loyalty to principle.
One day soon all the greys and all the blacks will be gone—morally as well as physically—and we will walk together in rainbow hours of everlasting day. – Des Ford (adapted)
Reflection: Des Ford challenges us in saying that we can never avoid compromise altogether. Are there areas in your life in which you have compromised? Were they compromises with principles, or just rules? What did you learn? With whom can you share it?
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