THE THREE C's

I recently read a little booklet, written back in 1987 by Bruce Wilkinson. He called it "The Three Chairs", and in it he explained how generations can slip from one chair to the next, in a downward slide! He called the first chair "commitment", the second chair "compromise", and the third chair "conflict". In this article I will try to summarize the truth he was teaching, about these three stages of decline in basic values. We see this decline today in families, in churches, and in our entire social structure!

1/ Commitment---This is a firm belief in something or someone that takes priority over anything else in your life. We can call it a "conviction" that we will hold to, no matter whether anyone else does or not. This calls for an "absolute" source of values to base our conviction on, and that source can only come from a proper understanding of the Word of God, the Holy Bible! Jesus said "I am the truth" (John 14:6), and He promised that He would send the Holy Spirit, who would lead us into all truth. (John 16:13-15). Yielding to the prompting of the Spirit then is the only way to hold to your convictions, or commitments! (Rom 8:14), and (Gal 5:16-18).

2/ Compromise---This is when we lose our conviction about a certain value we have held, and for some reason or other we change our mind, and embrace a new value system. This can be the result of many different influences in our life. It might be "peer pressure" from our family or friends, or just not being willing anymore to be the "odd man out", which comes from not being able to enter in to things other people do, because of our convictions. This could be "fear based", and God's Word clearly tells us we are not to fear! In (2 Tim 1:7) Paul states "For God has not given us the spirit of fear---". This tells us two things, 1/ fear is a spirit, and 2/ it's not from God. Therefore it must originate from our enemy's kingdom of darkness and is to be resisted! (James 4:7), and (1 Peter 1:14-16)

3/ Conflict---This is a natural consequence of compromising our conviction on something we have held for some time. Because we know we are going against a conviction given to us by God, this is bound to bring conflict in our spirit! When this happens the only way to get back to where we were with our relationship with the Lord is through "repentance"! (1 John 1:9)

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer