In business and politics, compromise might be a good concept. But in the realm of spirituality, it is not. God’s standard is that we love, worship, and obey Him 100% of the time. His expectation is comprehensive and leaves no loop holes.

But you and I live in a world of compromise and concessions. The concept of concessions is the idea that maybe 99% is good enough. We don’t need the full lot, the total sum, the complete package, 99% is plenty.

So, let’s consider the question of “what if 99% were good enough?” Well, according to an article I saw, if we had no phone service for 1% of the time, we would lose service for about 15 minutes. Can you imagine the outcry if everyone in the OC could not make any call, text or email for 15 minutes every day?

That same article asserted that if 1 % of babies were dropped in the hospital at birth, some 35,000 little boys and girls would be significantly injured. If 99% were good enough, we would have unsafe drinking water 3 days a year. And on it goes.

Compromise sets us up for unwanted concessions. 99% is indeed NOT ENOUGH. And especially spiritually, we need to avoid compromise.

Avoiding compromise is the task at hand. And we can do so by being built up in Christ, attending to His will and memorizing His word. We avoid compromise by walking steadfast in His truth. That suggests that our behavior is impacted by our daily habits of prayer and Bible study.

But as I thought through this concept, it occurred to me that there might be a very practical thing that we can do to help us stay fixed on Him and avoid compromise. It is the idea that we commit ahead of time to do what’s right.

We often tell young people to wait to engage in sexual activity until they are in a marriage relationship. And one of the tools to sustain that thought is for them  to commit ahead of time to that decision. Before they meet a special someone, they commit to wait. Before they start dating, they commit to wait. Before they spend time alone, they commit to wait. And they share that commitment with some trusted counselors who can help them keep their promise.

It is that prior thinking and pre-commitment that helps young people avoid the pressure of the moment. And that same approach can work for all of us in any number of situations. So, this week, let’s take a long look at the kinds of things we might be prone to compromise on in our spiritual life. And once we have identified them, let’s make some out loud, shared commitments to avoid those situations.

Let’s decide ahead of time NOT to compromise!