No Compromises

Earlier this week, I saw a commercial for Invisalign’s alternative to braces. I will say, after struggling through braces myself, there was something appealing to their product. I remember when Invisalign first came out – sometime after my metal braces were already installed – though I can’t say I recall their then advertisements. I don’t know the cost difference between traditional braces and Invisalign’s, but I know they are appealing to the social cost difference.

What I mean by that is, people are naturally mean – there’s a thing called sin and a doctrine called total depravity – and Invisalign knows this. Their product is aimed at millennial parents (adults in their 30’s now with young kids of their own – just like your pastor) who had braces and experienced bullying. There’s something noble in that, but this particular commercial carried a message that was more subversive.

​In this advertisement, the tagline is “no compromises” and the meaning is clear: you don’t have to compromise who you are for straighter teeth. Now, I have nothing against anyone using Invisalign and I have nothing against their product nor their ad campaign. A biblical worldview will see their advert and come to a conclusion that is counter cultural.

Paul tells the church in Rome “do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” The Greek word translated as “renew” carries the notion of renovation. When you renovate your kitchen, you do more than just paint the draw fronts. That’s merely a facelift. A whole kitchen renovation is pretty much tearing down and rebuilding. That’s what Paul has in mind when he says we are to be “transformed by the renewing” of the mind. What’s necessary is a complete overhaul of our thinking, which is why developing a biblical worldview is so vitally important.
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This means something must be compromised. We must not only be willing but must necessarily give up and hand over our sinful desires in order to be transformed. There’s no being conformed to the world AND transformed by the Word. It’s not a both-and. This is an either-or situation. Either you are conformed to the sinful desires of this world or you are not. Either you are transformed by biblical renewal or you are not. You might not need to compromise who you are for straighter teeth, but your sinful nature must surely be compromised if you want any hope of biblical renewal.