When you find yourself in a position of compromise, it’s for one of two reasons – seeking to please yourself or trying to please someone else. Sometimes, it can be a combination of the two. It’s like the captain whose ship crashed into the rocks. His first response was, “How did we end up here?” Even if your motives are only 1 degree off, in a matter of time you can find yourself shipwrecked.
Sometimes when you get into a pattern of pleasing others, it’s easy to think you’re on course with God because it feels right and you have a certain semblance of peace. You can even fool yourself into believing that you’re doing what you’re doing for the right reasons. Sometimes your need is so great, you can justify meeting it in your own way or in your own timing.
Sometimes the foundation of your identity is faulty and must be leveled. If your identity has been built on what you’ve done or what you do, God will begin to strip those things from you in order to reveal your true identity. A slave’s identity is based on what he does, but a son is who he is because of his father.
When you know who you are, you won’t be driven by the love, acceptance and approval of others. Your Father’s love is not based on what you do, even for Him. When you get this settled in your head and in your heart, you will serve Him purely out of gratitude for the love, acceptance and approval you know you didn’t earn or deserve.
If you’re somewhere in the middle of the process, take heart. It is because of God’s love for you that He did not want you to fall later down the road. Instead, He took the time to restore your foundation now so that He can build your life solely upon His love for you. You are His daughter and He loves you. That will never change.
…He hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world…wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. (Ephesians 1:3-14)