Stop trying to negotiate with God!  Just stop it.

People going through trials often respond to those trials by trying to negotiate with the Divine One.  This type of negotiation often arises from a lifestyle that is characterized by sin and disobedience to God.

Let me first say that this discussion is about Christian living, it is not about how to become a Christian.  Becoming a Christian is by faith alone.  No amount of determined change can bring about the forgiveness and regeneration necessary for salvation.

A young woman comes to faith in Jesus Christ through the witness of a co-worker.  She begins attending church and growing in the faith.  She attends Bible Studies, gives up addictive habits, and even changes the way she dresses and behaves.  She does all of this, not out of compulsion, but because she truly is led by the Spirit and believes it is honoring God.  However, she is living with her boyfriend and has been doing so for many years.  They are not married buyown a house together, share expenses, and are faithful to one another.  She truly loves him, and she is convinced that he loves her. He shows no interest in the gospel and says that he is fine with her being religious but he wants no part of it.  Understandably, she desperately wants God to save him.  She refuses to leave this domestic situation hoping that God will change her boyfriend’s heart.  Then she can live obediently to God and with her loved one at the same time.

Without really understanding it, she has entered into a negotiation with God.  “If you save my boyfriend, then I will not commit sexual sin anymore.”  While churches and Christian workers have to prayerfully and patiently help people through these agonizing choices, we do have to remember that sin is still sin and that God does not give out indulgences if we give him most of everything else.

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