TODAY’S WORD FOR FRIDAY FEBRUARY 12, 2016.
TOLERANCE
Disposition to be patient and fair; forbearance; refraining from taking action. Tolerance is a virtue.
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.
This is the most misunderstood word in our culture today because it has neutralized what we believers believe. Our culture has elevated tolerance over truth. Tolerance is a virtue today for a man with no convictions.
One of our great concerns is that evangelical believers are falling into the trap that culture seems to be demanding and Satan is using against those of us who believe in Jesus as our Savior. A recent poll told us that 68% of evangelicals today say that there is no such thing as absolute truth. These people believe that everything is relative.
Believers need to understand what is written in Matthew 5:13. We are the salt of the earth and when we change our value system from what the scripture teaches, we are basically good for nothing just as when salt becomes tasteless. True tolerance requires a belief in absolute truth.
Let us explain the difference this way. 7X8 is always 56. This is absolute truth. But when one says that 72 degrees is a perfect temperature, this is not true for everyone so it is not absolute truth.
The scripture clearly sets rules for us to live by daily. When we break a rule then we are sinning and not honoring God. That is what is happening today in our culture. When we were raising our children sometimes they thought we were intolerant when we gave them a rule and they broke the rule and received a punishment. Having to accept the punishment made us intolerant but the fact was that a rule was set and a punishment was set if the rule was broken.
Some people feel God is an intolerant God because they feel they are good people and cannot believe what is written in Romans 3:23 could be true for them. It is written, “We have all sinned and come short of the glory of God.” Romans 6:23 says, “The penalty for our sins is death.”
There are people that feel this punishment is too harsh. In reality God is quite tolerant and longsuffering. He puts up with a lot from us. While God is compassionate and slow to anger, He will not let the wicked go unpunished.
The only way one can be saved from this death and spending an eternity in hell is by receiving God’s act of redemption, accepting Jesus as one’s Savior. Those that think God is intolerant think that God’s judgement is unfair. No matter what anyone may think the fact is that the Bible is truth and there is no other way, according to God’s Word.
The Israelites often complained about God when they suffered the consequences of their sin. Ezekiel told Israel as recorded in Ezekiel 18:25, “Yet you say that the way of the Lord is not just. Is it not your ways that are not just?” The truth is that God was very tolerant and patient with Israel, putting up with their disobedience and even their rejection of Him as God.
In the two verses we have put above we can see that God does tolerate our sin and disobedience because He is compassionate and slow to anger. God will give us plenty of time to repent of our sins and turn to Him. But He cannot tolerate our sins forever. Nahum tells us in the verse above that the Lord will not let the wicked, those that do not accept Jesus as their Savior, go unpunished.
Tolerance is developing a disposition to be patient and fair in every situation you face in life. Every day we need to communicate to our Lord through prayer asking Him for the tolerance needed to handle the issues and frustrations we will face.
Our memory verse for this week is found in Isaiah 1:18.
Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.
Give me patience today and help me to be tolerant and slow to anger when people around me are against me. Give me wisdom in communicating to others the truth of Your Word. Thank You for being patient and compassionate to us and for forgiving us of our sins.
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