Tag: tolerance

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Grace > Tolerance

Daily Reading

Deuteronomy 21-23

Daily Thought

God demands repeatedly of Israel, “So you shall purge the evil from your midst” (Deuteronomy 13:5; 17:7, 12; 19:19, 21; 22:21, 22, 24; 24:7). Israel was the one nation in history where God joined together Church and State, “I will be your God and you will be my people.” In that close relationship, when God’s holiness is a daily display, Israel is to bless the world as an example of God’s presence. You cannot have God in your midst and evil, too. Evil must be purged. 

For example, Deuteronomy 22:22, “If a man is found lying with the wife of another man, both of them shall die, the man who lay with the woman, and the woman. So you shall purge the evil from Israel.” The Pharisees used this passage when challenging Jesus with a woman caught in adultery, “Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” We like Jesus’s answer, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” God, in the Old Testament, seemed so severe, so stiff. Jesus says, “Neither do I condemn you” (John 8:3-11). 

We think Jesus tolerant, and we think we like tolerance, but our definition of tolerance is “live and let live” and it is wrong. Romans 1 describes what happens when God lets people live in their sin. God gave them up (let them live) in their lusts (v 24), their dishonorable passions (v 26), their debased mind (v 28), and the result? “They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless (vv 29-31). It turns out God uses “live and let live” as a tool of his wrath and judgment. It turns out “live and let live” is really “let die.” It turns out an eternity of that kind of tolerance would be hell.

Rather than our idea of tolerance, I am grateful for God’s, “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8), and as a result, “there is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1). Jesus said to the woman caught in adultery, “Neither do I condemn you” (John 8:11). That’s not tolerance, that’s grace. That’s not “live and let live,” Jesus died for that sin. That’s the good news of Jesus Christ.

Daily Prayer

My God, Your reign and Your Kingdom is good. At the Name of Jesus every knee will bow, above the earth, on the earth, under the earth. Every tongue will confess Jesus Christ is Lord.

I know I test Your patience a lot, yet Your love never ceases. May my love, my faith, my devotion, my delight in righteousness continue to grow. I desire nothing less, nothing else.

Amen

Daily Question

When you recognize a pattern of sin in someone, how do you deal with it?

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Broken Windows

Daily Reading

Psalm 96-102

Daily Thought

When David became king, the country was divided and disheartened. Israel required a king who would unify and lead. How to pull a country together and point it in the right direction is the task of the new king, and David embraces it enthusiastically: Psalm 101, “I will sing” (v 1), “I will ponder,” “I will walk” (v 2), “I will not” (v 3), “I will know” (v 4), “I will destroy,” “I will not endure” (v 5), “I will look” (v 6), “No one shall,” “No one shall,” and “I will” again (vv 7-8). To unify rightly, you must raise up something worthy to compel devotion, “I will sing of steadfast love and justice; to you, O Lord, I will make music” (Psalm 101:1). To lead well, you must walk the right path, “I will ponder the way that is blameless” (Psalm 101:2). There must be the right mix of setting the course and cleaning up the place.

New York City was a dirty city and Mayor Rudy Giuliani became famous for cleaning it up. A “broken window” theory was key to the clean-up. Windows break; it happens. “But,” asked Giuliani, “why must they stay broken?” A building has a few broken windows. Leave them, and vandals break a few more. Squatters take over the building and criminals take over the neighborhood. Rudy Giuliani, mayor of New York City, declared “Zero Tolerance” on broken windows. A broken window will not be tolerated. Fix it now.

“I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless. I will know nothing of evil” (Psalm 101:3-4). Not only committed to do right, David pledged to hate evil. “No one who practices deceit shall dwell in my house; no one who utters lies shall continue before my eyes” (Psalm 101:7). He hated broken windows and the City is grand once again.

Daily Prayer

My God of Love, who hates sin because it destroys, may I share your passion. I must hate, truly despise, sin. I must also desire and cling to goodness and righteousness. This is not natural for me, but God, You have changed me. Your Spirit is inside me. May I submit to Your ways and walk with Your Spirit.

Do not allow me to tolerate sin in my life, God. Thank You that I can come anytime to Your throne and confess, and find Your forgiveness.

Amen

Daily Question

Can you hate sin and tolerate sin in your life at the same time?

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Cleaning House

Daily Reading

Nehemiah 12-13

Daily Thought

Nehemiah led the effort to rebuild Jerusalem. He returned the Word of God to public reading, reestablished the worship, the Sabbath, and the festivals of the Jewish faith, and rededicated a confessing people to follow their God. Then he left for a time, traveling to Babylon to visit her king. He returned after who knows how long, but it was too long, because sin had moved back into the city. Tobiah, an Ammonite enemy of Israel and God, was living in a room in the temple. Evil doesn’t ask to be in charge, but tolerated, because then it’s in charge. The temple was neglected, the Sabbath was ignored, and the people were marrying foreign women who worshipped foreign gods. “Did not Solomon king of Israel sin on account of such women? Among the many nations there was no king like him, and he was beloved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel. Nevertheless, foreign women made even him to sin” (Nehemiah 13:26). Purity cannot abide evil. A child dropped his ice cream cone upside-down onto the dirt. It ruined his ice cream. Didn’t bother the dirt at all.

So Nehemiah cleaned house, literally. “And I was very angry, and I threw all the household furniture of Tobiah out of the chamber” (Nehemiah 13:8). There is a time for tantrums because there is such a thing as too much tolerance. “And I confronted them and cursed them and beat some of them and pulled out their hair” (Nehemiah 13:25). It reminds me of a man who walked into a temple and began turning over tables.

Daily Prayer

Holy God, I love Your Word. Everything in it tells me about life, how it should be lived and Who it should be lived for. It displays Your goodness, Your righteousness, Your holiness. Your grace and mercy. Your love.

God, I commit myself to You. Set me apart from the sin around me. Surround me with others who love what is good. Keep me good, keep me righteous, keep me holy by Your Word. Forgive me when I stray, and lead me back to the right path.

Amen

Posted on

GRACE>tolerance

Daily Reading

Deuteronomy 21-23

Daily Thought

God demands repeatedly of Israel, “So you shall purge the evil from your midst” (Deuteronomy 13:5; 17:7, 12; 19:19, 21; 22:21, 22, 24; 24:7). Israel was the one nation in history where God joined together Church and State, “I will be your God and you will be my people.” In that close relationship, when God’s holiness is a daily display, Israel is to bless the world as an example of God’s presence. You cannot have God in your midst and evil, too. Evil must be purged. 

For example, Deuteronomy 22:22, “If a man is found lying with the wife of another man, both of them shall die, the man who lay with the woman, and the woman. So you shall purge the evil from Israel.” The Pharisees used this passage when approaching Jesus with a woman caught in adultery, “Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” We like  Jesus’s answer, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” God, in the Old Testament, seemed so severe, so stiff. Jesus says, “Neither do I condemn you” (John 8:3-11). We think him tolerant, and we like tolerance. 

Our definition of tolerance is “live and let live,” but do we really want that? Romans 1 describes what happens when God lets people live in their sin. God gave them up (let them live) in their lusts (v 24), their dishonorable passions (v 26), their debased mind (v 28), and the result? “They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless (vv 29-31). It turns out God uses “live and let live” as a tool of his wrath and judgment. It turns out “live and let live” is really “let die.” It turns out an eternity of that kind of tolerance would be hell.

Rather than our idea of tolerance” I am grateful for God’s patience. “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance” (2Peter 3:9). Rather than “live and let live,” I am grateful for God’s salvation. “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23),  and death must be paid, and was. As a result, “there is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1).

Jesus said to the woman caught in adultery, “Neither do I condemn you” (John 8:11). That’s not tolerance, that’s grace. That’s not “live and let live.” Jesus died for that sin. That’s the good news of Jesus Christ.

Daily Prayer

My God, at the Name of Jesus every knee will bow, above the earth, on the earth, under the earth. Every tongue will confess Jesus Christ is Lord. You reign and Your Kingdom is good. I desire nothing less, nothing else.

You are sovereign, You are King and Creator, You are God. You are wonderful. Teach me what it means, what it looks like to love You with all my heart and soul and mind and strength. Increase my love, my faith, my devotion, my delight in righteousness.

Amen