Early in my faith walk I was a master of DISGUISES. My portfolio of faces and facades was deep and wide. My go-to disguises to cover up my distance from God were money and a mansion adorned by a sports car strutting on the long driveway’s runway.
dis·guise: to obscure the existence or true state or character of something or someone. To conceal.
I did everything possible to AVOID spending time in SOLITUDE with God, even though I knew JESUS needed it (Mark 1:35) and HE commanded it (1 Corinthians 1:9).
I was a walking COMPROMISE who had embraced my own flawed version of strength and rejected God’s perfect power that can only come from spending time alone with him to know that HE is the source of our STRENGTH (Psalm 46:1).
I had become a LUKEWARM CHRISTIAN who never met a COMPROMISE I did not take.
Disguising compromises is built on a sandy floor of hubris and self-confidence that leaves no “need” for God…and, therefore, no time for SOLITUDE with God. Then, after convincing yourself that you do not need God, everything you think and do becomes silently neutral or blatantly compromised.
It does not take long for those compromises to form a nasty rhythm that assumes they are not only acceptable, but “the right way to walk with God.” WRONG!
This is the clearest definition of LUKEWARM CHRISTIANITY. And it’s the most dangerous kind of faith walk. Walking as a COLD Christian would actually be “better” because you would have made a clear and conscious choice to live away from Christ. No disguises needed. No fakery required. No compromises necessary.
God wanted me to FOLLOW HIM without any disguises or compromises, but I chose to chase the WORLD.
God wanted me to FOCUS ON OTHERS and tell them about HIM, but I chose to concentrate on ME.
God wanted me to be in SOLITUDE WITH HIM, but I chose to distract myself with ME-CENTRIC power and pleasure.
“I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.” Revelation 3:15-16
I ask God to help me fight off the ever-present temptation to compromise my faith and use that as a disguise for my failure to spend time in SOLITUDE with him.
WHAT ABOUT YOU?
Are you disguising any compromises that keep you from spending time in SOLITUDE with God?
“Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.” Mark 1:35
