Tolerance

Tolerance. A word that has seemed to taken over society the last couple of years. It’s always in the news and used as argument if someone disagrees with your own opinion. It has been in some stories lately regarding the women’s World Cup soccer team. I looked up the definition of tolerance and it revolves around the acceptance of someone’s opinion or actions, and not of the person themselves.

I think that is where the misconception arises. We can be tolerant of people but intolerant or their opinions or actions. We can disagree with what they do and still love them as a person. However, those that tend do disagree with the actions of others are usually quickly labeled as either a racist, a bigot or some other word that ends with the suffix “phobic”. It sometimes comes across that those screaming for tolerance the most can be the most intolerant of others disagreeing with their opinions.

What does Jesus teach us about tolerance?  First off, he always loved and respected the person. Second, He never tolerated anything that went against the Word of God. A great example is the woman caught in adultery that was getting ready to be stoned for her sin. As Jesus requested her accusers to look at their own lives and only those found to be without sin were allowed to cast stones at her, he spoke to her separately. “But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him.  Jesus stood up and said to her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?"  She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more." - John 8:9-11.

He has tolerance for our nature to sin as humans, but He never tolerates us to continue in that sin. “Go, and from now on sin no more!”  As Christians we are to tolerate the fact that people are sinners by nature, because we are too!  However, as Christians, we are never to tolerate the sin and approve or accept it if it goes against God’s Word. We can be loving and intolerant at the same time, just like Jesus was.

Another example was the woman at the well. Jesus knew she had been married five times and was currently living with a man that was not her husband, but He still loved her and offered her His Living Water. “So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, ‘Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?’” - John 4:28-29. He didn’t condemn her but pointed out His intolerance to her sin.

Christians get a bad stereotype of being intolerant because we adhere to the truth of God’s Word. I think we can do a better job of doing both, loving the sinner but hating the sin. If we do it in the reverse order, people begin to draw conclusions that we are hateful, intolerant bigots because that is how we come across without loving them first. It’s easier for those we disagree with to accept our opinion of sin if they know that we love them first, for the sinner that they are, even though we may hate the sin they commit.

Have a great day and God bless.