Compromise...Once

My favorite TV show is 24, where the lead character is Jack Bauer--a counter-terrorism agent. Bauer's life is a constant confrontation with people and groups whose ultimate purpose is to commit evil. Some of those he confronts were at one time the "good guys"--people who were committed to the cause of protecting America but chose to become it's enemy. During one episode, when another character asked Bauer how someone could make the choice to switch, he replied, "You can look the other way once, and it's no big deal, except it makes it easier for you to compromise the next time, and pretty soon that's all your doing; compromising, because that's the way you think things are done. You know the guys I busted? You think they were the bad guys? Because they weren't, they weren't bad guys, they were just like you and me. Except they compromised....once."

Ask anyone who has ruined their life by making sinful choices, and you can pretty much trace it back to the decision to compromise...once. Rarely does one set out intentionally to do evil; rather it is typically a bad first choice where the reward momentarily outweighs the feeling of guilt. People who steal are usually caught after multiple attempts, because after trying it once and succeeding, the next time it becomes easier to compromise. The decision to continue visiting pornographic websites becomes easier if the first attempt succeeds without repercussions. An affair that destroys a marriage always starts with one decision: to flirt, to take an undue interest in a member of the opposite sex, to respond inappropriately to flattery, to compromise.

Notice what James 1:14-15 says about the decision to compromise: but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. The decision to compromise is easier to defeat when we stop it at the starting point---our own evil desires. Immersing ourselves in God's Word, allowing the Holy Spirit to speak to our hearts and building accountability into our lives will help us keep these desires from being born into sin.