I know it is a stretch to ask you to compromise. We have the idea that compromise is bad; that compromise may even threaten our salvation. If you think this way, you are wrong.

God himself models compromise for us in the pages of Scripture. In Genesis 18, God engages in a very open-ended conflict with Abraham regarding the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah. God was not toying with Abraham here. There is no reason to think that God would not have destroyed the entirety of Sodom and Gomorrah if Abraham had not asked God to compromise. God compromised for Abraham and did not in this action weaken Himself or His position as God.

When you are in conflict with someone else and you can compromise your position without losing personal integrity, you are not showing weakness.

The late and very wise H.M.S. Richards once told a group of young ministers about the power of compromise. When the winds of opposition blow hard, he urged the young ministers to be more like tall grass than sturdy oak trees. He had personal experience with the winds of opposition. The church leadership strongly opposed his idea to start a radio ministry, The Voice of Prophecy. Like tall grass, he bent when the wind blew. When the weather improved, like grass, he stood tall and faced the sun once again.

Tall oaks that are stiff and uncompromising tend to get blown over and completely uprooted.

Compromise is not necessarily a bad thing. We will not lose our salvation if we mold and adjust ourselves to some degree to those around us. Of course, we should never lose personal integrity in our efforts to relate well with others. God would not want us to do this; He did not lose His own integrity when He compromised. God compromised with Moses when He wanted to destroy the children of Israel. Jesus compromised in the strict adherence of the law when He refused to stone the woman caught in adultery. Perhaps we should consider compromise in some select situations.

The parable is told of two men who walked the path of truth. It happened that their paths ended directly opposite each other. Each one was certain, and they were correct, that this was the path of truth that God wanted them to walk. When they came upon each other and were forced to stop, neither one of them was willing to adjust his path to get around the other. They stood there, no longer moving forward in the truth, until they both died.