Nothing erodes convictions and standards faster than compromise. Human beings are rather skilled in this area. Compromise is a weakening or giving up of principles or ideals for reasons of expediency. Expediency is doing or considering what is of selfish use or advantage rather than what is right or just. Expediency is always based in self-interest. Compromise erodes wisdom quickly. Unlike others, a person cannot compromise the wisdom God has given by His spiritual revelation if he is to hold the beginning of his confidence steadfast to the end. Compromise can steal away eternal life if a person is not careful. Seemingly inconsequential compromises can lead to greater sins and the resultant difficulty in repentance. The more a person compromises, the harder it is to return to the faith once delivered. Wise Solomon fell victim to the same temptation that others so often face, to compromise in what are thought to be small concerns or the gray areas. The danger in such reasoning is that small compromises weaken character and over time lead to major sins. Just as a person can grow in character little by little, so he can backslide in the same manner. A series of compromises gradually but inexorably distorts understanding of God and His ways. If a person slackens his resolve to keep all of God's commands, even those deemed less important, he will gradually lose his God-given understanding of His way to eternal life. Satan begins making his inroads in lives when he influences a person to compromise on God's law and follow his own way. Once a person compromises, the process of sin has begun, and its ultimate end is death. The time to stop the process is in the beginning, when the situation and the pulls are still small and simple. It is the little compromises, the ones thought to be so meaningless, that grow into full-blown sin and apostasy. Nip sin in the bud, and the enduring consequences of compromise will never have a chance to bloom.