Unmasking Compromise

I once wrote that compromise does not fit well in a cloister. It does, however, knock daily at my enclosure door.  It makes sales pitches through the grille, some of which are quite enticing.  It Won't Hurt Anything to Enjoy a Harmless Round of Gossip, it assures me, perhaps adding a gentle nudge to Just Go Along With the Crowd.    

If I hope to live totally for God, I must battle temptations to compromise.  God has given clear directives on how to live for Him, and frankly, most of what I encounter in the world right now is the exact opposite of these.  Every day, I must make my choices.  Every day, I must face down the grinning, smooth-talking, hand-offering, smartly-masked ogre of compromise, and I must take a stand.

It helps me to know that the battle is not a new one.  

"The earliest monasticism was directed to the tendency in the church to compromise with the world, to water down the strong wine of the Gospels to suit the vulgar taste...  Monasticism, in its development, was unmistakably on the defensive against a worldly church"  (Walter Nigg, Warriors of God, NY, Alfred A. Knopf, 1959, pp. 80-81)

"Mediocrity is the arch-enemy of  Christianity."  (Nigg, p. 47)

"The desert fathers fought the corrosion of mediocrity not in others, but in themselves, which is what made them saints and not simply critics of civilization and preachers of penitence."  (Nigg, p. 47)

Compromise does not fit well in a cloister.  If I hope to live "enclosed in the will of God," I must see through the masks and boot compromise out the door. 

________________________________________________________________________
For Prayer and Reflection:  

• Do the above quotes strike me in any way? 
• If I look for compromise around me today, what masks do I catch it wearing?
• Have I developed habits of compromise in my life?  Are there scriptures or prayers I can use to battle these?

"I beg you through the mercy of God to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to God, your spiritual worship.  Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, so that you may judge what is God's will, what is good, pleasing and perfect." (Romans 12:1-2)

This is a slightly edited repost from our archives. It is linked to Reconciled to You and Theology is a Verb for 'It's Worth Revisiting Wednesday.'  

Let's Go In

I have been thinking about walls.   I woke up today dreaming of one in particular.  I was going around and around and around it, looking for the gate in, because inside was the "interior cloister."  But somehow the gate was hidden.  My first thought was "oh no... am I outside the will of God?!"  I really didn't think so.  Not in the sense of serious sin, anyway.

But then I thought of what it truly means to be a cloistered heart.

"The word cloister speaks of total consecration..." I wrote some years ago.  "Compromise does not fit well in a cloister, nor does lukewarmness, nor does complacency.  The cloistered life is absolute."

Compromise.  Lukewarmness.  Complacency.  Have these crept into my life?  After all, I live in the world.  I interact with it daily.  And "the world is persistent in its tugs on the heart trying to live for God..."

Being one who is called by God to live in the world, am I ever at risk of becoming too attached to the multitude of distractions it offers?  As I spend time with others, when I look at a newspaper or movie or TV, am I in danger of being infected by attitudes that are in actual conflict with the will of God?  These are, of course, rhetorical questions.  I think we know the answers all too well. 

Over the next few days, I would like to look at some of the things that can wall us off from growing closer to God.  More importantly, I hope to find the way to get through those barriers.  I know "walls" have been a theme here for the last week or two.  That was unintentional on my part. 

I'm beginning to think it may not have been unintentional on God's.

"The Good Lord willing and Internet connections don't fail," I'll see you back here tomorrow.  No matter where we are on the journey, we can have stronger faith, deeper prayer, more zealous love, greater virtue, higher joy.  With such blessings as these available, why would we want to spend one more minute lazing around in the tepid waters of lukewarm faith?

God is calling each one of us into the FULLNESS of His love. 

Let's go in.

"Ask, and you will receive.  Seek, and you will find.  Knock, and it will be opened to you.   For the one who asks, receives.  The one who seeks, finds.  The one who knocks, enters..."  (Mathew 7:7-8)

Painting: Karl Julius von Leypold, Wanderer im Sturm


This is part of a 'mini'-series' of posts on walls.  To continue in chronological order, click this line.

Unmasking Compromise

I once wrote that compromise does not fit well in a cloister.  I've been thinking of this lately, and of my own human tendency to try to make fit what, in reality, does not.

The truth is:  Compromise knocks daily at my enclosure door.  It makes sales pitches through the grille, and some are really quite enticing.  The "catalogs" Compromise opens to me do not display pages on which I find the words "Caution: Sin Zone Ahead."  Mostly they feature offers like "It Won't Hurt YOU to Watch This Mind-Warping Sitcom," "Let's Enjoy A Harmless Round of Gossip," and the ever popular "Don't be a Spoilsport - Just Go Along With the Crowd!!!"    

If I hope to live totally for God, I must battle the temptation to compromise.  God has given clear directives on how to live for Him, and frankly, most of what I encounter in the world right now is the exact opposite of these.  Every day, I must make my choices.  Every day, I must face down the grinning, smooth-talking, hand-offering, smartly-masked ogre of compromise, and I must take a stand.

It helps me to know that the battle is not a new one.  

"The earliest monasticism was directed to the tendency in the church to compromise with the world, to water down the strong wine of the Gospels to suit the vulgar taste...  Monasticism, in its development, was unmistakably on the defensive against a worldly church"  (Walter Nigg, Warriors of God, NY, Alfred A. Knopf, 1959, pp. 80-81)

"Mediocrity is the arch-enemy of  Christianity."  (Nigg, p. 47)

"The desert fathers fought the corrosion of mediocrity not in others, but in themselves, which is what made them saints and not simply critics of civilization and preachers of penitence."  (Nigg, p. 47)

Compromise does not fit well in a cloister.  If I hope to live "enclosed in the will of God," I must see through the masks, and boot compromise out the door. 

________________________________________________________________________
For Prayer and Reflection:  

• Do the above quotes strike me in any way? 
• If I look for compromise around me today, what masks do I catch it wearing?
• Have I developed habits of compromise in my life?  Are there scriptures or prayers I can use to battle these?

"I beg you through the mercy of God to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to God, your spiritual worship.  Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, so that you may judge what is God's will, what is good, pleasing and perfect." (Romans 12:1-2)

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