Gospel of Accommodation

​Imagine if a few influential leaders suggested that traffic lights are too restrictive.  They offend a percentage of drivers who feel trapped and forced to conform to other motorists.  Three-way lights are insensitive to the needs of the color blind and old fashioned.  Either do away with them or give each driver leeway to determine whether to brake or accelerate.  Of course, if this really happened there would be an outcry by safety-minded drivers for the ruckus and accidents that would ensue. 

Influential voices suggest that Christianity is too restrictive and inaccurate in its portrayal of God. It offends those who dislike the rigidity of archaic Biblical laws. It is intolerant of those born with a different sexual orientation.  It violates the rights of a woman to abort an unwelcome baby.  It is disrespectful to the great religions of the world by its absolute claims that Jesus is the only means to salvation.  Basically if it hopes to survive and grow it must compromise to emerging generations and their demographic appetites.  

There is a perverse pride and subtle rebellion at work here.  The message is that God’s plan is really meant to please our will.  From the time of Eve to this day, the pathway to pleasure is always more popular than the trail to what is good.  “Did God really say, ‘You can’t eat from any tree in the garden . . .No! You will not die, in fact, God knows that when you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Gen. 3:1,4,5).   
 
Meditation
Jeremiah 6:16,17—This is what the LORD says: Stand by the roadways and look.  Ask about the ancient paths: Which is the way to what is good?  Then take it and find rest for yourselves.  But they protested: “We won’t!”  I appointed watchmen over you and said: Listen for the sound of the ram’s horn. But they protested, “We won’t listen!”
 
Beware of the messenger proclaiming tolerance as God’s intent.  Those who suggest that His love is lenient are not honoring Him they are parroting the whispers of Lucifer.  God’s holy nature does not change.  He does not say what He forbid in the past as immoral is now okay.  False prophets reimage God but the good way is not found through their sanctioned wandering or worldly detours.  And they will stand accountable to Him for their heresies. The gospel of accommodation is enticing but it is a recipe for hell. 
​
If God were accommodating why have us fear Him?  “Do you not tremble before Me, the One who set the sand as the boundary of the sea, an enduring barrier that it cannot cross? (Jer. 5:22)  If He yielded to our evolving nature He would have to admit sending His Son to the cross was tragic overkill!  There is no need for a Savior if there is no consistent judgment for sin.  The gospel message does not bend to man. We bend. We bow in faith.  We obey submissively and we find reward and joy that no one else can provide.  The gospel of accommodation does not make everyone happy, it makes everyone deceived.  “You live in a world of deception.  In their deception, they refuse to know Me.  This is the LORD’s declaration” (Jer. 9:6). It is not running thelight that makes us more enlightened it is following the Light.  The gospel is rigid to give us life.  Thank God!
 
©2013 Daniel York  ARR. Reveration is the weekly devotional ministry of First Cause.  If you would like to receive these devotionals go to www.firstcause.org and click on the “Click here to receive weekly devotionals” box.  Unlimited permission to copy this devotional without altering text or profiteering is allowed subject to inclusion of this copyright notice.      
 
Ecclesiastes 12:10-The Teacher sought to find delightful sayings and to accurately write words of truth.  (Holman CSB)