Compromising the Gospel

Some of the things Jesus said to His disciples, if taken literally, would so upset the way the world works we wouldn’t recognize it. They would overthrow the way we've set up everything. So we have to find a way to acknowledge what He says while allowing ourselves not to take His words too seriously.

“If someone says bad things about you, say only good of them. Don’t return evil for evil.”

“If someone slaps you, let them slap you again without slapping back.”

“If someone steals from you, give them even more of what you own.”

“Don’t look on one another with lust or see each other as objects of self-gratification. Treat everyone as you would like them to treat you.”

“Forgive those who do you wrong, not once, but over and over again; forgive them so many times you lose count. This is how our Father in Heaven forgives you. As you are forgiven, forgive.”

We all know better than this. A life lived according to these principles would be unstable; nothing you owned would be secure, people would take advantage of you all the time, you’d probably end up getting killed. That’s what happened to the One Who said these and other impossible-to-follow things.

So we compromise His words and teachings. We learn to be Selective Christians. “We” here is inclusive—I’m not sitting on a throne, speaking down, but on a stool, talking to my friends. I’m a picture perfect example of a Gospel compromiser. Because I am, the world of selfishness and sorrow lives around me. Because I water down the Gospel in my everyday life—in everyday ways—the Gospel doesn’t have the power it is meant to have for me and those around me. The world around us, even in its fallen state where the Law of the Survival of the Fittest is ever at work, is a world of resplendent beauty. Even death and decay can’t hide the glory of its Creator. You and I, though, can hide some of its remaining goodness. The more you and I live by the Laws of the Fallen World, the more those Laws hold us in their power.

But you and I have a chance, every day, dozens of times a day, to overturn the Laws of the Fall. We can, every now and then, share in the New Life, by saying a gentle word to those who speak unkindly to us or harshly of us. When we forgive wrongs which really hurt us, with a Gospel forgiveness that seeks nothing for itself and wants to hold no advantage over another, the Gospel is set free and grace abounds—not just for the forgiver and the forgiven, but for all those around. The Russian St Seraphim said, “Save your own soul, live the Gospel words, and ten thousand souls around you will be saved.” That grand old Christian curmudgeon, G K Chesterton, said the same in ways we can relate to best: “Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried.”

The next time you get a chance (you won’t have to wait long!), do Jesus a favor. Don’t compromise His words. And let me know what happens.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++