A Bad Word

No I am not talking about the words that may or may not come out of my mouth when I may of may not cut myself with a knife at the cafe.  I am disgusted when people take words and pervert them to mean something for which it was not intended.  The worst example of this is the word "tolerance."

Tolerance is used by every group that does not identify itself as Christian to explain why we should accept them.  I have a difficult time with this because a "tolerant" person can deal drugs, engage in homosexuality, commit terrorist acts, and champion abortion, but an intolerant person will attempt to tell people about Jesus and identify sinful behavior.  Being tolerant should be a two way street.  It does not mean that I agree with you, but it does mean that I accept you believe something different and I do not look down on you for it.

Truthfully some of this was brought on us by other people that identify themselves as Christians.  The media allows this to be perpetuated.  For every good thing Christians do,the media reports every possible blip no matter how unfounded it may be.  Think about this...for every racist fool, there are multiple Christians that stand for equality.  For every sexist pig, there are Christians ready to show them that God created us all without prejudice.  For every heretic ready to burn a book, there are Christians prepared to teach people how to read and understand.

What I can't tolerate however, is sin.  Most of all my own.  Read this:

Matthew 7:4-5 (New International Version)

⁴How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? ⁵You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.

 Too many of us are ready to react to these people that commit various sins without first doing the work to remove sin from our own lives.  If you are reading this and you follow this up with a trip to a pornographic website and then complain about what all the homosexuals are doing you are a hypocrite.  Don't get mad at me.  I didn't say you were a hypocrite, Jesus did.  The church will never become The Church until we are so disgusted with our sinful tendencies that our hearts break and we repent of our hideous behavior.

We should tolerate each other, but when we tolerate ourselves that is when apathy can set in.  The moment we tolerate ourselves is the moment we acknowledge that we have nothing else to work on.  Dying to self is a conscious action.  I think of this as daily murdering myself.  Meaning that not only am I dying to self, but I am do so with malice of forethought.

The next time you hear any version of the word tolerate, stop and think about what you are tolerating.