I heard this quote while in college and I remember the impact it had on me then… and still has on me now. Life is short…man’s days are determined;(God) has decreed the number of months and has set limits we cannot exceed. Job 14:5 Our time is ordained by God. We can’t presume on the future and we can’t change the past.
Life is a series of continual choices. Each choice determines the direction of our developing character. Convictions make us who we are. The difference between a conviction and a preference is what it takes to stop us from doing the right thing in the light of what we know is right by what the Word teaches.
We are continually making decisions, both good and bad, that influence our destiny and the direction our children will take when given similar circumstances. In a world filled with immorality, drugs, alcohol, and compromise at every corner, we are faced most often with the only biblical option…to stand alone. Standing alone defines our loyalties toward others and also, defines the loyalty others have to us.
But, most importantly, it defines our loyalty to God.
In a world where having friends, fitting a certain mold for popularity, defining our own values in a world with no eternal values and having to accept the inevitable consequence of our decisions, often leaves us baffled with only two options…. standing alone on God’s side or the alternative, compromise, which will offer immediate gratification, but the cost will be on the altar of the permanent.
Which will it be?
The decision you make will infinitely influence those who are following you…
Compromise means you sell out what you are…
for what you hope to get.
BUT
What you hope to get is not what you want
because you have been destroyed in the compromise process.
Who you were…you no longer are!
The permanent has been sacrificed on the altar of the immediate!
~Jackie Johnson - I am a former tribal missionary to the Kuna Indians on the Colombian border in Central America. Fluent in several languages, my husband and I currently pastor a Spanish-speaking church in Southern California. My passion is discipling and equipping dedicated young women for life, marriage, motherhood, and beyond. I am the mother of two daughters and the grandmother of three Princesses and four young Knights.
