Today’s scripture is: Romans 14:1-12
If compromise is the art of dividing a cake in such a way that everyone believes he has the biggest piece as Ludwig Erhard noted, then how do Christians “do” compromise? As Paul notes in Romans 14, the strong in faith work with the weak in faith to raise them up and strengthen them. This is discipleship. We are not to be spending our time judging the relative position of others, but to work to lift them up and in so doing we lift ourselves.
Compromise is often seen as weakness especially when it comes to core values. It certainly seems that our legislators have forgotten how to compromise in matters that would seem to clearly benefit the citizenry. Here, in Romans 14, we see Paul teaching us that judging others for their relative strength or weakness is sin on our part and we fail to help lift the weak.
Rather, compromise helps us to work together for unity of action, if not in thought. Compromise enables the church to adapt and change as the world changes even while we hold onto the core values of Love God, Love Others, Make Disciples and we remain steadfast with the doctrine of the Trinity and divinity of Jesus. There is an old saying, “In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; and, in all things, charity.”