We've gone too far in the world.
We allow too much.
We've mistaken love and acceptance for support of harmful ideas. This has been weighing on my spirit for a while now.
I've been praying to God for His guidance.
The more I study the Bible, the more I see how off base we are with the ideas of acceptance and tolerance. It comes back to love.
What is genuine love?
Sometimes love can be hard and hurt because the truth cuts deep. We're living in a world that has no boundaries, that says you can do whatever you want, and we must accept that, or we’re hateful bigots?
This kind of behavior is not Biblical. We are called to stand against sin.
Revelations 2: 2: "I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and howYou cannot bear with those who are evil but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not".
As followers of Christ, it's our duty to stand against the evil in the world and to call out false teachings. The path to Heaven and Eternity goes through Jesus.
There is no other way.
It's our duty to share this truth. This can be harsh for others to hear. But that cannot stop us.
The key is patience and teaching.
2 Timothy 4: 1-2 "I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his Kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching."
I think this is where a lot of us miss.
Patience and teaching, not tolerance of sin. We've dropped the teaching and switched to tolerance. It's the path of least resistance and it allows us to stay complacent.
It's uncomfortable challenging people.
It takes courage.
This is why we need God. It's why we hire Jesus. It's why we all carry the Holy Spirit. So we may engage with the world and never be on our own. This is the price that Christ paid for us.
Following Christ costs us a lot.
It means we can no longer tolerate the sin of the world. It takes true love to tell someone the hard truth they are harming themselves and others. It takes all of our heart to stand against the world and show the ways of God.
This is not an easy ask.
But so many have been ensnared by the idea of acceptance the modern world teaches and not that of Christ Jesus.
It's a subtle but deceptive shift away from the Law of God. This is also part of the problem with not studying the Bible and learning God's word. It makes us susceptible to manipulation. Because the world loves to take Biblical truth and manipulate it for selfish gain
This is what we must guard against.
Tolerance does not equal love.
Giving heroin users free reign to abuse and having no consequences isn't love but enabling.
Telling a child they are not the gender God makes them isn't tolerance but abuse.
Believing in Jesus isn't the same as accepting Him as our Savior and following His ways.
Love and truth mean there will be limits and boundaries to our behavior. Repentance means we must change our ways and seek to live more holy. Too often we treat these things like transacting in a marketplace.
This is a very common misconception we have:
"I've accepted Jesus as my savior, so now I can do as I please."
Too many of us believe we get to decide what is right and wrong.
What is Holy or not.
But this is why we have the Bible. This is why we have Christ and the Holy Spirit. To guide us on this path of Life. The world is riddled with sin. We must not tolerate this. Tolerance of sin is one of the most anti-Christ behaviors the world has convinced us of as Christians.
The world has taken the natural empathy that we have for our fellow brothers and sisters of God and used it against us. I was guilty of this too. Believing I have no place to judge others: But that is the very thing, we’re called to do.
The key is we must teach with patience. Not blatantly accept what others do out of "love".
Love requires strength, courage, and honesty. It requires patience. It's hard work. Tolerance with no limits is actually quite lazy. It's placing comfort over duty.
As Christians, we’re called to follow Christ. Jesus called out people often. He corrected often. But he did this with patience and grace. Too often, we pick and choose what we want as Christians like it's Our Amazon Cart.
It doesn't work like that.
The world is full of false prophets and blasphemy. It's our duty to challenge these false teachers. Especially, if they are claiming to be Christians. So much harm has been done in the name of God by false teachers that keep people from receiving Christ.
We must stand against this.
Being a parent has taught me a lot about tolerance. If I "tolerated" every whim and desire of my 3-year-old, she would only eat cookies, never get enough sleep, and end up destroying herself through reckless action.
Is that Love?
Of course not.
People would call me a terrible parent and rightfully so. But this is basically what we do in the world now. The idea of tolerance is often weaponized in the name of Jesus. But Jesus didn't tolerate a lot... He stood against:
Sinful practices: John 8:11, John 5:14
Hypocrisy and Self-righteousness: Matthew 23
False Teachings: Matthew 24:24, Revelation 2:20
Rejection of God's Truth: Matthew 11:21-22
How many of these things are prominent in the world today?
Most of us don't even know anymore because we've never genuinely studied the Bible. Including myself! I'm now seeing it because of the Word. Because we have not studied we are blind to the world we face.
Ephesians 6:10-18: Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.
13 Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. 14 Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
18 With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints.
This is the trick that has been played upon us.
Satan laughs as we defend sin in this world. We've been duped into thinking tolerance of all behavior is loving. It is not.
To truly love means we must challenge.
Reprove. Rebuke. Exhort.
That is our call.
The only way out of this hell is through Christ.
I used to struggle with this idea. But now I see why it's so important. Christ is the model. There is no greater human to live but He. God sent Him for a reason. To teach us and show us the way to Heaven. Christ died and was resurrected to take the weight and share of our sin for all of humanity.
To go against this is to go against God. So when people preach anything other than acceptance of Christ as the path to God, I know they are a false teacher.
Even if they don't.
God paved the way for a reason.
This makes it clear.
Christ is the only way.
People don't lie to hear this because it means we must change. But if we are to truly dedicate our life to God and Christ, we must be willing to make sacrifices.
And that means challenging ideas we know take us further from God. This is why Christ was both the Lamb and the Lion. The wolf has convinced us only the Lamb exists, but the Lion will not be denied.
We are here to serve our Master. Let us rejoice in this incredible honor.
Christ is the way!
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