I once heard the story of a pastor who attended a conference of leaders of ministry. While they discuss matters of growth and expansion, he came up with a submission; “I know how to grow our Church. I’d just lower the standards, let people come in, then adjust back to doing the right thing.” The pastor was already given to the sins of Jeroboam.
Friend, stop lowering standards. You need to beware of the sins of Jeroboam. God kept talking about these sins in scriptures (1 Kings 14:16, 15:30). You might think that Jeroboam’s acts would just end with him and his generation. But you would notice it kept spiralling to succeeding generations. It was a grave sin because it affected the purpose of God greatly.
The sins of Jeroboam are the sins of compromise, counterfeiting, and convenience. Compromise is dangerous, not only to you but also to the purpose of God in and through your life to your generation. This is why God would prepare you before trusting you with influence in your world. The leader sets the standard.
The instrument that would set the standard must not tolerate error in itself (1 Timothy 4:12). A Jeroboam spirit or leadership wants to compromise God’s standard for His people. Remember that Jeroboam made priests out of the lowest of people (1 Kings 12:31, 13:33). God’s standards do not change (2 Timothy 2:19). A God-given leadership raises people to God’s standard rather than lowering the standards.
Be careful of people in your life who are lowering divine standards for you; they would end up shortchanging you in destiny. Beware of that pastor who says some sinful practices no longer matter. Beware of that fiancé who keeps pestering you for sex and/or some sinful sexual behaviour in the name of Grace. Grace does not excuse our sins; it empowers us to live above them (Titus 2:11).
Jeroboam would not let people pay the price to go up to God (1 Kings 12:26-30). He brought a pseudo comfort to people at the detriment of divine standards. True comfort is a byproduct of submission to divine process, not the boycot of the same (Matthew 11:28-30). In life, there is the fake, the false, and the genuine. If the devil knows you cannot fall with the false, he deceives you with the fake. It is the sin of Jeroboam; counterfeiting the genuine. Keep the standards high. You will succeed.
‘Demola Awoyele
Lead Pastor,
Destiny Impact Church
Akure, Nigeria