TODAY’S
WORD FOR WEDNESDAY JULY 31, 2013.
TOLERANCE
DEFINITION:
Disposition
to be patient and fair; forbearance; refraining from taking action.
SCRIPTURE:
He
is a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love, and
faithfulness. Psalm 86:15
The
Lord is slow to anger and great in power, and will not at all acquit the
wicked. Nahum 1:3
KNOWLEDGE
AND EXPERIENCE:
Many
would argue that our God, the living and true God, the God of all creation, is
intolerant. This is because they possibly think that they are good people and
do not want to believe that as it was written in Romans 3:23, that "we
have all sinned and come short of the glory of God," applies to them.
Romans 6:23 goes on to tell us that the penalty for our sin is death.
There
is one and only one way to be saved from receiving the penalty of death for our
sins and that is to accept God's way of redemption -- accepting Jesus Christ as
one's Savior. There are no loopholes or any other ways. There is no escaping
God's judgment for our sins. Those who think God is intolerant think that God's
judgment is not fair.
Our
children often thought we were being intolerant when they didn't like being
punished for breaking a rule that we had made for them. They loved to complain
by saying something like, "It's just not fair."
In
reality it is those who think that God is intolerant who are being unfair. When
we sin, we are the ones at fault. We have broken God’s rules. When God punishes
us we often have the same childish response as our children. “It is not fair!”
God does not have to live up to our standard of fairness. We must live up to
His. We have the unfair expectation that it is permissible to rebel against God
and break His commandments and then expect God to be tolerant toward us.
The
Israelites often complained when they suffered the consequences of their sin.
Ezekiel said to Israel as recorded in Ezekiel 18:25 "Yet you say, 'The way
of the Lord is not just.' Is it not your ways that are unjust?" The truth
is that God was very tolerant and patient with Israel, putting up with their
disobedience and even their rejection of Him as their God.
God
tolerates our sin and disobedience because He is compassionate (above verses)
and slow to get angry. God wants to give us plenty of time to repent of our
sins and turn to Him. While God is patient with us, He cannot tolerate our sin
forever. He holds us accountable for our sins and judgment will come. In the
verse above Nahum tells us that the Lord will not let the wicked go unpunished.
One
of the hardest things for parents to do is to be tolerant and slow to anger in
raising their children. Think how often your children have broken the rules or
over stepped the boundaries that you have set for them. What is your reaction
when this happens? Isn't the disobedience of your children difficult to
tolerate? We are sure that you feel that it is difficult for you to tolerate
this when it happens and to not get angry. When we think of our reactions to
our children it should help us to understand how great God's tolerance is for
us when we are disobedient.
God
wants us to be slow to anger with our children just as He is slow to anger with
us. Nevertheless, we cannot let our children's wickedness go unpunished. We
must hold our children accountable for their disobedience just as God holds us
accountable for our disobedience.
Tolerance
is developing a disposition to be patient and fair in every situation you face
in life. How many times have you faced issues at your work place, in your
neighborhood and more important with your family where tolerance needed to be
practiced and you became intolerant? Every day we need to communicate to our
Lord through prayer asking Him for the tolerance you need for that day. Issues
and frustrations come and go. As individuals, when we face these issues we make
them a serious problem and they should be treated only as a passing situation.
LEARNING:
Our
memory verse for this week is found in Philippians 1:21.
For
to me to live is Christ and to die is gain.
PRAYER:
Lord,
give me patience and help me to be tolerant and slow to anger when my children
or others are disobedient. Give me wisdom in holding my children accountable to
the rules I have given them. Thank You Lord for the tolerance You have shown
me, allowing me time to repent.
