This is the weekly email devotional of WhoUWith?
Ministries (2003)
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"Adversity is a crossroads that makes
a person choose one of two paths: character or compromise." --John C. Maxwell
When things don't go the way you planned, how do you respond?
Do you use it as an opportunity to let the character of Christ show through in
you life? Or, do you use it as a chance to compromise yourself and your beliefs
in Christ?
Example: You find out something is due in a
class, or at work, that you forgot about. What are your options?
Character says: Do what it takes to get the work done
(stay up all night, do some overtime, etc.). Or, come clean with your boss and
ask for a few extra days to make things right.
Compromise
says: Find someone who has already done that work and try to turn it in
as your own. Tell your boss some type of lie to buy yourself more time, or just
blame the whole thing on someone else and walk away!
Peter and John
were beaten, jailed and asked to compromise their convictions. They were asked
to quit sharing about Jesus.
Let's look at their answer: What does
God’s Word say?:
Then they called them in again and commanded
them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John
replied, "Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God's sight to obey you
rather than God. For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and
heard." Acts 4: 18-20
It would have been a whole lot
easier for Peter and John to compromise their faith and save their lives.
However, it is because of them, and others like them, that the saving story of
Jesus Christ continued to spread!! What if Peter and John had decided it wasn't
worth to price to stand up for Christ. What if they had quit proclaiming the
gospel and went back to their fishing nets? Thankfully these men faced
adversity head on.
It is doubtful that any of us will put our lives on
the line for the sake of our faith. The most we will probably have to endure is
the occasional criticism, and at most, the rejections from what we thought were
friends.
Everywhere you turn someone is ready to give you their
opinion. I try to listen to those who are close to me...those who know me and
love me. I also want to hear from those who are walking close with Christ and
have already been where I'm going...a little (or a lot) older than me. It is
important to filter all advice through God's Word...if it goes against what God
clearly states in His Word then it is not advice worth following.
Peter
and John were certainly ready to give everything for the cause of Christ.
Compromise was not an option; character was the only way out!
When
adversity hits, what are your options? I hope you answer right; your character
depends on it.
Just a thought!
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