The Reordering: Living with Christ in the Midst of Compromise

Compromise is the new relatability.

I was not planning on writing a short read this week, but when God knocks, I must answer.

To keep it short, early this year we lost both our dogs, they were our family members, on to old age and one to cancer. Luigi (English Bulldog) and Maximus (Rottweiler). Both amazing dogs, but I admit, I am biased on Maximus, as I was his alpha.

Still stings. Still hurts. Still tear up when I think about it. 

What is true, is that joy comes when you do not expect and usually is after being obedient to Christ (more on that in weeks to come).  Last weekend we picked up a Cane Corso puppy, Zeke (short for Ezekiel). The long nights, the amazing puppy breath, the puppy nibbles and the cuteness when he bolts into his "zoomies" when he gets a shot of excitement. 

Why am I telling you this?

It is amazing how inspiration and words grabs ahold of you after your second walk past midnight when having a puppy.

Let me start from the beginning.

While working remotely this week, I received a message from a leader I deeply respect. We learned how to lead and influence during the same season of our careers, while growing together through shared challenges and growth opportunities. Many of those challenges were part of learning and some tested our core beliefs, but through it all, he is a disciplined man that leads with integrity.

He reached out to thank me for some of the writings I have posted on social media, and honored that he did, but I asked him a question. What are some real struggles you are seeing in the world today? 

As he lives on the other end of the country, we still have the need to connect and share our mutual burn to outwardly speak about the internally love we have for Jesus Christ. To share his good works and how it has changed our lives.  

With that, I dedicate this piece to my brother in Christ, Brad Davis. Thank you for your voice and your hunger for a faith that goes deeper than appearances and selfishness. For being unsettled when words and actions do not align, especially when they seek glory apart from God. I pray that our conversation this week will stir something in others just as it did in me.

Folks, it is moments like these that remind me why my upcoming book, Stuckness, is being written in the first place. If you are longing for more, keep checking in, as I promise, you will not be disappointed.

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There is a quiet ache running through our world right now, a dissonance we cannot quite name. We scroll, we build, we accumulate, we perform. And yet, many of us feel more disconnected than ever. Not necessarily from belief itself, but from the experience of living it out. We are stuck. Not because we do not believe in God, but because we no longer know how to live with Christ at the center of everything.

We compartmentalize Him. We keep Jesus in our devotional life but not our decision-making. We invite Him into our pain but not into our ambition. We pray in church but panic in meetings. And slowly, without meaning to, we find ourselves navigating life with one foot in faith and the other in whatever the culture deems most urgent that day. We are being conformed by the world.

That is Stuckness.

And yet, that Stuckness is not a sign of failure. It is a sign of friction, and friction is often the birthplace of transformation. It is in that space of tension that we begin to sense what Romans 12:2 calls us to:

 “Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.” 

The world wants to shape us into something efficient, self-reliant, and spiritually passive. But Christ wants to reorder us, not silently, but with our actions and with the Fruits of the Spirit.

The reordering is not theoretical. It is deeply practical. It is about living with Christ as the ordering principle across every area of our lives, not just the ones that feel spiritual. So, what does that look like?

It looks like...

...integrity in the boardroom.

...kindness in tension.

...silence instead of defensiveness.

...honoring people behind their backs.

...leading without ego and serving without needing recognition.

And when you live that way, when your actions align with the quiet voice of the Spirit, you leave an impression far deeper than words ever could. See, your actions are the prerequisite to a lasting impression. People do not remember what you say nearly as much as they remember how you made them feel. In a noisy world, presence is what people remember.

But here is the tension: when we attempt to live with Christ at the center, we often feel caught between two extremes.

On one side is hyper-literalism, a rigid and extreme behaviors, rule-based faith that forgets grace and the words of Jesus. It is a selfish endeavor to reclaim fame, money or to synthetically heal a scar that has been around for a while. I might look Christ centered but is self-motivated. 

On the other is hollow independence, what one friend called “disingenuous atheism”, where people claim to live without God but still desperately search for meaning through humanism, science or philosophy.

Unfortunately, neither camp reflects the heart of Jesus but might do kind acts for a good cause. It is about the motivation behind the act. Is it motivated because you have the love of Jesus in your heart or is it motivated because it makes you feel good? Or was it a company goal or maybe you did it because you were pleasing man, a boss or to keep your job, instead of Jesus.  I challenge you to swipe on your Apple watch and find your [moral] compass—is it pointing north?

What we need is alignment. A returning to the One who holds all things together (Colossians 1:17). And that alignment often begins not with a leap, but with a pause. A moment where we tell the truth about where we are, and invite Christ to speak into it.

He does not enter with shame. He enters with truth. With clarity. With the kind of love that both convicts and heals.

So, if you feel stuck, you are not failing. You are being invited. The discomfort is not the enemy; it is the invitation.  And the reordering does not happen in loud declarations, but in quiet obedience.

One surrendered moment at a time.

One Beatitude at a time.

One Fruit of the Spirit at a time.

One prayer at a time.

Thought Provoking Questions:

1. Where in your life are you most tempted to compartmentalize Christ?

2. Are there small actions that could become a greater witness than your words?

3. Why are you bursting inside to speak Jesus' name but lack faith that He will NOT be there?

4. What would it look like to let Christ reorder your mindset this week, not just your Sunday?