Love vs. Tolerance

I was driving in the car this morning thinking about the difference between love and tolerance. It seems as if we live in a culture that constantly talks about tolerance. We see bumper stickers that say "coexist" with every letter representing a different faith. We hear messages that say we should tolerate others no matter what their beliefs or preferences.

I understand where this comes from, I really do. We don't want people to go around discriminating, oppressing, or hurting others just because of the color of their skin or because of their beliefs, but I don't think that tolerance is the right message. Tolerance can be taken to an extreme - most advocates of tolerance would say we shouldn't "judge" based on someone's sexual preferences. But, almost everyone in society would agree that there are some sexual behaviors that should not be tolerated (i.e. teachers sleeping with students, etc.) no matter how much someone might "believe" in that behavior. It's as if those who proclaim tolerance want us to tolerate certain things but not others. Is that really tolerance?

I think that is a major issue, but I think the greater danger of tolerance is that it lacks relationship. We were created for relationship. In the church we know this so dearly, but even the world around us knows this. That's why we live in "communities." The real danger of tolerance is that it suggests that relationships don't matter. Tolerance says, "You can do whatever you want and it does not matter to me."

Personally I'm not ok with that, and I believe there is a better way. In 1 John it tells us that we love because He (Jesus) first loved us. As followers of Jesus Christ we are called to love one another. Love says, "You can do whatever you want and it does matter to me." If we truly love someone their actions do matter to us. Our love for them is not dependent upon their actions, we love them no matter what, but we most certainly care what a person does and does not do.

My hope and prayer is that those who have received love (The Church) can show love to the world around us so that we can find a better way to live.

Holiness Unto the Lord

In the Church of the Nazarene, the phrase "Holiness Unto the Lord," is often referred to as our motto or anthem. It is at the heart of who we are. We believe that God has called everyone to "Be Holy for I am Holy" (Leviticus 11:44; 1 Peter 1:16). We also believe that God always equips us to do what He calls us to do. That means the call unto holiness is not just a goal to be aimed for, a hope to be longed after, wishful thinking or anything else along those lines.

The call to holiness is what God expects for His followers. God expects His people to be holy. Not because we have any innate goodness in ourselves, or not because we have the will and determination to live holy lives, but rather, because He makes us holy when we allow Jesus to be our Lord and the Holy Spirit to sanctify our lives. Romans tells us that the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead is at work within you and me when we are united with Christ. If you ask me, that's a lot of power at work in our lives.

I've always believed this about holiness, but this morning as I was reading in Numbers, I realized something. Sometimes I struggle with places in the Old Testament where God tells His people to go into the land He promised them and chase out or kill all of those living there. That just seems a little harsh.

In Numbers 31 God tells the People of Israel to take revenge on the Midianites for leading them into idolatry. The instruction from God are to kill everyone except for virgin girls. We are told that there were 32,000 virgin girls. That means a lot of people were killed. I was struggling a little bit with this as I was reading this morning, and then all of a sudden it hit me. God is desperate for His people to be Holy! God loves everyone, and desires that all should know Him, but that is also why God is so passionate about His people being holy. The world knows God's holiness through His people (see Ezekiel 33 for an example).

Sin has a way of corrupting everything it touches. Just as a moldy grape can make a whole bunch bad, sin of one can spread to many so very, very quickly. So, God will do everything in His power to keep His people Holy. I think that's why in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) Jesus says, "It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell."

As I pause this morning to think about all of this, I am so thankful that God is so desperate for our holiness. God loves us so much that He will go to great lengths to save and sanctify us. God can and will make us and keep us holy if we allow Him to have His way and His will in our lives. I am thankful for a God like that.

A Step Ahead

So I was thinking about leadership this morning. I've come to believe that one of the greatest things a leader can do is to call people to be just a little further ahead of where the are. Really, the word "leadership" suggests exactly this. By definition, a leader most often goes ahead of those he or she leads.

When I was in seminary I had a wonderful pastor who modeled this for me. He would often talk about our church and say, "We are a church that ..." It took me a while to realize that often when we said, "We are a church that ..." he was often talking about us being a church that we weren't quite yet. He wasn't talking about something that was way different than who we were as a church, just a step ahead of where we presently where. Amazingly, our church continued to move, one step at a time.

In college I led a group of friends up Mt. St. Helens. Most people did quite well on the climb, but there were a few who really struggled, especially over the last mile. So I walked with them, I told them not to look up, but simply to look ahead and focus on where they would place their foot next. And, when all was said and done, they made it to the top, one step at a time.

The most challenging part as a leader is to be patient with your people. Often leaders see the big picture and work so hard to get our people to see this picture as well, but that is a very frustrating endeavor. Instead, if we help our people take one step at a time towards where we are going we can often get there much faster and with less difficulty.

This also means that a leader doesn't have to know every step to take, just the next one. So what's the next step for you, and what's the next step for your people? That's where you begin.

Swimming Free

So, I'm a triathlete. I haven't always been a triathlete. In fact, for most of my life I considered myself a runner. Even after I started doing triathlons I considered myself a runner who did triathlons. But, now I'm starting to see myself as a triathlete.

Since running was my background it always seemed to come easy to me. And biking, while I might not be the fastest guy out there, is something I've done since I was a child. I suppose I've been swimming since I was a child too, but there's something far different from "swimming" in a pool to swimming in a triathlon.

As I've worked on these three disciplines over the years - swimming, biking, and running - I've worked particularly hard at becoming a more efficient swimmer. Swimming deals with a lot of resistance. Water is far more dense than air. Therefore, if you can get through the water in a more efficient manner, then not only do you swim faster, but you have more energy for the biking and running as well.

Over the last several weeks I've had several occasions when I've swam the same distance at the same speed using fewer strokes. This might not seem like a big deal to you, but it was HUGE to me! The thing is, I didn't just wake up that morning as a better swimmer. But as my body learned to position itself slightly different it all came together to help me swim more free.

Driving home from the pool I thought about how that can be so similar to life. Sometimes life presents a lot of resistance, but, when we position ourselves in such a way that God can work within us we can know what it means to live free. And that is a wonderful thing.

Seeing the Forest Through the Trees

I love being a pastor, I really do. I love people and I love God and I get to spend the majority of my time focusing on both. But, as in any situation in which you work with people, there are always challenges.

In our church, we have seen God work in some remarkable ways this past year. God has moved time and time again and we are just in awe of God and what God is doing. We are also thrilled to be used by God in what God is doing. However, in the midst of this, there are times or situations when people seem to be pursuing their own agenda instead of God's will.

This can be very frustrating and disappointing. But, lately I've been reminded that's important to see the big picture. Sometimes I get so focused on the present that I forget to step back and look at where we've come from. Ultimately God is much bigger than the problems or troubles we face. When I remember this, and when I see the vastness of God's glory, I realize that the troubles we face are like trees in a forest and that God is greater than it all.

Middle Ground

This morning I was confronted with the news that Osama bin Laden is dead. I haven't even looked at Facebook yet today, but it's my understanding that there have been a variety of responses. From what I've heard, it seems to me that there have been two main responses to the news - 1) joy that bin Laden is dead, and 2) the statement that as Christians we cannot rejoice in anyone's death. As I've thought about these two responses I've wondered to myself, "Could there be a middle ground???"

It's not that I don't understand where both responses come from, I certainly do. I understand the sense of relief that a man whom has made it his goal to kill people that think differently from him is no longer alive. On the other hand, I also know the command that Jesus gave to "love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." But, there's something in me that says that our response is not an either or. After all, Scripture (especially the Old Testament Prophets) speak an awful lot about justice.

Perhaps the better response for us as Christians is to rejoice that some of the evil that is in the world has been restrained. But at the same time, can we cry that a man, whom was loved by God, is dead? I know there are some that would think it's impossible to do both at the same time, but to me it seems that this is the only way. I'm not suggesting that this is easy, especially for those that lost loved ones on 9/11, but then again, when we follow Christ it may not always be easy, but He will sustain us.

A Few of My Favorite Things

As much as it pains me to say this, I was recently thinking of the movie The Sound of Music. The reason it pains me so much to say that is because one summer while I was in grade school, my older sister watched The Sound of Music every single day of the summer. I was sick and tired of that movie and have been ever since.

But, the other day, I had the opportunity to do two of my favorite things at the same time - run and talk about Jesus. It all began the Sunday before with an invitation from a guy in my church to go running. I knew he wanted to do more than run, but I didn't know exactly what was going on. So we ran, and we talked. It was great!

As we talked and ran I was able to tell him about God's love. The fact that God loves us where we are, but He also loves us so much that He won't leave us where we are. Honestly, I don't know if it gets any better than that. There are a lot of people that will say things like, "You need to get saved so you don't go to hell." Now, in light of recent news stories let me make it very clear that I believe in hell and that the only way to be saved from our sins is through Jesus Christ. It's just that I also believe that Scripture is clear that salvation is much greater than just being saved from our sins. God desires to save us from our sins, but He also desires to save us from the effects of our sins.

Sin is more than just a "spiritual" matter in our lives. Sin destroys every part of our life. It is sin that leads to pain, brokenness, captivity and so on in our lives. And, as God works within our lives in order to bring about salvation, God also restores our lives to how they were intended to be before sin ever entered the world. Now I also believe that this process won't be made complete until eternity, but this process can begin right now when we allow God to work within our lives.

When Jesus was here he told us that the Kingdom of God had come. But we also know that the Kingdom of God has not yet come in its fullness. However, since the Kingdom of God has come, we don't have to just wait until eternity to share in some of the blessings of being a part of God's Kingdom.

Anyway, we talked about that - God's love, God's grace, and God's full salvation - and we ran, and I found myself humming along with Julia Andrews.

Perspective

Recently I've been having some good time with God. I've been spending more time in prayer and more time in His Word, and its been a blast. I have truly enjoyed spending time in the presence of God Almighty.

As I've been enjoying some good God time lately something kind of surprising has happened. Actually, it's not all that surprising at all when I think about it. It's just that I hadn't anticipated it happening. But, as I've been spending more time with God, I've realized that things that sometimes worry me haven't seemed as that big of a deal. Don't get me wrong, there are still challenges that I face and situations that only God can handle. It's just that in the past these things have seemed like a much bigger deal than they do now.

I suppose that's what perspective does for you though. The closer I get to the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the Creator and Sustainer of all things, the smaller everything else seems. I mean really, what are my problems compared to the God of the universe? I guess that's why Paul encourages to always rejoice, because there is nothing that is bigger than God.

Wonder

One of the joys that I've discovered in my first year and a half or so of being a dad, is watching my son take in the world around him. He can be fascinated with the littlest of things. I don't get all that excited every time I see a car, but my son proudly says "car" whenever one's in sight. Likewise, whenever he see's a vehicle with a light on top (fire truck, police car, ambulance, tow truck) he proudly lets us know by saying "woo woo." Of course, there's also excitement with animal crackers, drums, or his pacifier. Anything and everything is a reason to explore and be filled with wonder.

As I've been thinking about my son, I've also thought about what our attitude should be like when it comes to God. Shouldn't we be filled with awe and wonder when we come before God Almighty? After all, we can never exhaust God. Perhaps that's why Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me"? Children don't take things for granted. They get excited with the familiar, and they don't get bored with what they know.

What would life be like for us if we desperately and passionately sought after God? What would life be like if we approached God with child-like wonder? What would life be like if ??? Hey, I know, let's find out.

Prayer

Ok, so I guess I'm not really a blogger. My wife is a blogger, and a good one at that. Every Wednesday she writes a blog. I on the other hand, do not blog very faithfully. I've never been good at doing things like keeping a journal or anything like that. But, the last couple of weeks I've really been processing some things and so I thought it might just be good for me to get some of that out.

Two weeks ago we (my wife and I along with some friends) attended a church conference. The focus of the conference was reaching our culture. It really was a missions conference with the US and Canada as the mission field. One of the focuses of the conference was on prayer. I must confess that I have not always spent a lot of time in prayer, but this is an area where God has really been speaking to me and leading me lately. I am starting to crave time in God's presence. Not pounding God with request after request after request, but simply time with God speaking to Him and, more importantly, allowing Him to speak to me.

In the midst of this journey there was a service at the conference that was very different from what I've experienced before. People flooded forward for prayer, for healing, for simply a blessing from God. Based on how I've grown up there was a part of me that wanted to say, "This is charismatic, this isn't Nazarene." But I felt checked not to make that judgment. While it was very different to me, I was reminded that God is far bigger than my understanding of God. I also thought of the statement from Gamaliel in Acts 5 "If their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourself fighting against God." In thinking of this I was reminded of the fact that many affirmed fruit of the ministry of the man that preached that day. I was also reminded of how we rejoice when we hear stories from the mission field of people being healed and restored and touched by God in an instant. We praise God when we hear those stories but when we encounter them face to face we feel uneasy. Why is that?

I'm realizing once again that God is far bigger than I am. I am humbled by this, and also excited about the possibility of getting to know far more of whom God is. That is why I long to be with God, to spend time in His presence, and to be molded more and more into His image so that I can reflect His glory more and more (2 Cor. 3:18). That is my desire and my prayer.