Daily Devotional For February 25, 2025
Repent, therefore, but if not, I will soon come to you and make war with them by means of the sword of My mouth. He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna. And I will give him a white stone, and upon that stone a new name will be written, which no one can know except the one who receives it. Rev 2:16-17.
The church at Pergamum is drifting into compromise, not rushing in intentionally. People don’t just get up one morning and decide to give up their relationship with God or become totally secular. When Christians become secular, it is because they allowed themselves to gradually drift into it. Perhaps they are not praying, or wrestling in private prayer, as much as they used to. Maybe they are just not reading the Bible and other spiritual books the way they used to. The drift into secularism is gradual.
The problem is that compromise is rarely offensive. People slip into it without even realizing it. Compromise tends to be popular, it makes everybody happy and offends no one. But it offends God. I should probably qualify that last statement. There is a difference between conciliation and compromise. Conciliation is a good thing. The results of compromise, on the other hand, are not spiritually healthy.
With compromise comes lower personal standards. People don’t naturally drift upstream, the natural drift in any church is downstream toward a lower standard and a lesser clarity in doctrine. Unless people are willing to swim against the tide through vigorous application of Scripture, a church will inevitably move to lower standards, like Pergamum did.
What is Jesus’ solution to compromise? He leaves us in no doubt. REPENT! The Greek form of the word implies that repentance is something they need to start. The Pergamenes evidently don’t think they need to repent, but Jesus insists that the wrong kind of tolerance requires repentance. If they won’t confront the people who are destroying the church, He will come and “make war with them by means of the sword of His mouth.”
The remedy for a compromising spirit is, first of all, a firm decision. To repent is to make a total turn in your life, to renew spiritual disciplines. To repent means to stop drifting along and doing what feels good or what comes naturally. To repent is to become intentional in what you do spiritually. To make sure you have time for prayer and study. To make time in your life for the things God would have you to do, such as sharing your faith.
No matter what you’ve done or where you’ve been, it’s not too late to turn things around.
Lord, open my eyes to the hidden compromises in my own life. I invite the spirit of repentance into my heart.