Too Cool

Pharaoh had finally buckled. He wanted the plagues to stop. So, he called in Moses and Aaron and said, “All right! Go ahead and offer sacrifices to your God. . . . But do it here in this land” (Exodus 8:25 NLT).

As we watch Pharaoh try to manipulate Moses, we see a picture of how the devil tries to manipulate us. This is the anatomy of a compromise.

What did God tell Moses and Aaron to do? He told them to put three days’ distance between Egypt and themselves and then offer sacrifices to Him (see Exodus 3:18).

However, Pharaoh told them they could go and offer their sacrifices to God, but they needed to do it in Egypt.

Pharaoh was trying to force them into making some concessions. He was saying, in effect, “If you don’t want to worship the gods of Egypt and have to worship your God, then go do it. Just don’t go very far. Stick around.”

Maybe you’ve seen this trick before, perhaps even in your own life. After you give your life to Christ, the devil essentially says, “I didn’t want you to do that, but I will concede that you have gone over to the other side. Let’s strike a deal. Don’t get too fanatical here. Can we still have a little fun together? You don’t have to give up all your old friends and lifestyle. You can still believe in God. But be practical.”

That is what the devil does with us: “Go ahead, but don’t go too far. You don’t have to believe all this stuff.”

Moses, however, said no. He knew they had to go.

Some people have believed in Jesus, but they haven’t gone very far from their old lives. They’ve stayed close enough for the enemy to still have a foothold. They are still influenced by ungodly friends and things that have dragged them down. They are still engaged in a lifestyle they should have repented of long ago.

For example, how many generations have been destroyed by drugs, sex, and rock ’n’ roll? It’s amazing how each successive generation acts as though they’ve discovered it themselves. The fashions may change (or sometimes don’t), but they get into the same things that previous generations did.

We need to obey God. We need to commit the nonbelievers in our lives to the Lord. If they’re going to come to Christ, they won’t come to Him through our compromise. In fact, it will drive them away.

Sometimes we think we can reach people for Christ if we just do what they do and relate to them on their level. Then they will believe and think we’re really cool. But no one has ever come to Christ that way. Nonbelievers come to Christ because Christians living genuine lives before God aren’t afraid to let their lights shine.

Sometimes we’re trying so hard to be cool and relatable that we forget about being righteous. We forget about standing up for what is right.

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