I’ll never forget our first trip to the Grand Canyon. I could go on and on about its size and beauty. How I just stood there with my mouth wide open as I completely failed to appreciate it. And then there’s the giant mule deer whose warning snort sent shivers down my spine just before running as fast as I could to the car. Or it could just be the fact that Mary Ann and I were alone for the entire day. But none of that’s the most memorable thing. Not by a long shot.
Trying to please the one I love, I decided to take the back roads to make the trip more beautiful More memorable. So, on that special winters’ morning, we drove to the Grand Canyon from Phoenix. As we made our way into the mountains, the fresh snowfall made the trees and rocks look even more magical as they sparkled in the morning sunlight. Little did I realize what I was heading into.
You see, those little used roads were carved into and up the side of mountains. They tightly twisted and turned round and round. That was bad enough. But the fresh snow and ice made it much more dangerous. But that’s not the worst part. You see, those steep, twisting mountain roads had no guardrails!
That’s right. No guardrails. There wasn’t anything to stop us from sliding off the edge and down into some forsaken and forgotten canyon where our decaying bodies wouldn’t be found until next spring. I gripped the steering wheel tight as fear gripped my heart. I gently pressed on the brake and accelerator to avoid skidding. When Mary Ann pointed and said, “Oh look, how beautiful” I said, “Yes dear,” and just kept my eyes straight ahead.
Yes, we made it to the Grand Canyon and back. Yes, I managed to stay on the road around the countless steep, hairpin turns. Yes, I lived to tell the tale. But two important lessons were burned into my memory for the rest of my life.
First, there are times when I need to adjust myself to something else. Someone else. This is the very definition of tolerance.
Second, guardrails are a good thing. They’re for the safety and protection of myself, my loved ones, and everyone.
Today’s Tolerance
Nowadays, we’re overwhelmed by a tolerance tsunami, but without any guardrails. Cries for tolerance are beating down the doors of our lives. They demand that everyone has the right to do anything they want. Believe and say anything and everything. To write or record whatever comes into their head without any restrictions. Without any guardrails.
And if that were the end of it, there might not be all that much of a problem. But today’s tolerance is much more than that. When we’re told to be tolerant, we must also support and celebrate whatever anybody says, does, or believes. Do or say anything less and we are immediately and brutally labeled as being intolerant. Unkind. Unloving. Not only can’t we try and stop them, but we must also join their parade and cheer for them. We’re also encouraged, if not forced, to pay for their choices.
Without any prompting on my part, you’ve already picked out groups of people in your mind that you’ve labeled as intolerant. They have no guardrails and they make your blood boil. How could they be so unkind? So unfeeling. How can they treat others that way?
But the truth be told, you and I are just as intolerant. Yes, we gladly support the people that live like we do. Believe the same thing. But just let anyone do or say something different than the right way we live and think, and we’ll cut them off at the knees. They’ll wind up in the trash heap of “those people” we despise.
You see, intolerance is not restricted to one side of any topic. To one group of people. Right or left. Liberal or conservative. East or west. One country vs. another. One religion against another. It’s found on all sides of just about any topic. Except for one.
True Tolerance
Of all the people who have ever walked the earth, Jesus Christ was and is the most tolerant person who ever lived. Period. He received anyone who came to Him. They didn’t have to agree with everything He did or said before welcoming them. He received both the beautiful and the broken. The rich and poor. And when it came to forgiveness, performing miracles, and healing, both Jew and Gentile were on the receiving side.
While Jesus was open and accepting of anyone regardless of their background, He also said that there were godly guardrails to life. That there was a way to live that gave glory to God and was beneficial to us and all people. Jesus wasn’t afraid to speak the truth in love to anyone.
- He told the woman at the well to call her husband when she already had five and was living with another man (see John 4:7-18).
- While He loved the rich young ruler, Jesus told him to go and sell everything he had (see Mark 10:17-22).
- After healing the woman who’d been bleeding for 12 years, Jesus doesn’t let her just slip away quietly but makes her tell everyone about her past and what just happened (see Mark 5:25-34).
- Jesus tells the healed leper to publicly acknowledge his condition to the priest and offer God’s kind of gift (see Matthew 8:1-4).
- When the man healed from a legion of demons want to follow Jesus, he’s told to go home and tell everyone how much the Lord has done and had mercy on him (see Mark 5:1-20).
After receiving the blessing, Jesus said that they had a responsibility. Their lives needed to change. They needed to do something. There’s always, always, always a response to the love God gives us. Sometimes this starts with publicly acknowledging what was wrong with us.
Jesus receives us and loves us right where we are but doesn’t expect us to stay right where we are. Jesus wants to change us. Jesus will change us. He must change us. Yes, Jesus said kind and compassionate words. He healed and restored. But He also told the truth. And sometimes His tough truthful words cut deep and hurt (see Hebrews 4:12). Sometimes he tells us to do things that we’d never do on our own. Never say on our own.
Jesus was both tolerant and tough. Both compassionate and confrontational. He received the humble with an open hand but clenched His fist when it came to standing firm for who God is and His truth. His harshest words were reserved for the people that thought of themselves as superior spiritual superstars. What could be worse than being called children of snakes (see Matthew 12:34).
But there’s another, more powerful reason that we know Jesus is the most tolerant person of all time. It has to do where He came from and how far He had to step down to reach us.
I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
John 10:10
From eternity past, Jesus was living in perfect loving fellowship with God the Father and God the Spirit. He never knew anything but flawless love along with completely transparent and intimate fellowship within the Holy Trinity.
That’s just part of what’s behind the words “I have come.” To come, he had to leave someplace else. You can’t come to a place when you’re already there. In some way that we can’t fully understand, Jesus who was fully God and fully man all at the same time, left heaven and came to earth. He willingly leave His throne in heaven for you and me.
And why did He come? To make a big social media splash with millions of followers? To fly around in the air, performing miracles, getting people to cheer and elect Him king? No. He came so that lost and broken people just like you and me could have a full and free life today and into eternity.
You came from Heaven to earth
To show the way.
From the Earth to the cross,
My debt to pay.
From the cross to the grave,
From the grave to the sky;
Lord, I lift Your name on high[1].
Personal Tolerance
When I sit down for a minute and think about exactly who I am, the truth of Jesus’ tolerance knocks me off my feet and onto my knees. Nothing’s hidden. It’s all open to Him and yet He loves me. He died for me. His overwhelming compassion comes in like a flood and rolls over me.
If you only knew who I really was. If you could see what’s going on inside my head. If you could hear the word I say under my breadth. My thoughts of hateful revenge when that certain someone crosses my path. Then you’d begin to understand that I don’t deserve anything close to His tolerance.
But maybe you do understand. Perhaps you’ve seen a little bit of yourself in the mirror of life and come to the same conclusion that I have. It’s the same conclusion that the Apostle Paul came to about himself.
I’ve tried everything and nothing helps. I’m at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn’t that the real question? The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something totally different.
Romans 7:24,25 MSG
Like Paul, we’re at the end of our rope. But Jesus tied Himself onto our rope and never let go. He lived a life that experienced all the same pressures and passions that we go through but without any sin (see Hebrews 4:15). He saved us through His death and resurrection (see 1 Peter 2:24 and 1 Peter 1;3).
Receiving this eternal tolerance from God changes everything. But it’s more than just receiving His gift of salvation. It’s not very popular to say, but living for Jesus in this world isn’t going to be easy. There’s no guarantee that it’s going to be a Christ-filled cakewalk.
How do I know? Because Jesus told us.
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.
Matthew 11:28-30 NIV
We really like that coming to Jesus’ part when we’re on the receiving side of His godly goodies. When we’re weary and burdened, that’s when Jesus steps in and does His thing. Receiving rest from Jesus really sounds great. It’s just what we want. What we long for. What we need.
But following Jesus always follows. This means we need to receive and tolerate His yoke and burden. We’re going to be saddled with the yoke of Jesus, giving Him control to take us where He wants, at the speed He wants. And we’re also going to feel the weight of Jesus’ burden, moving the load He gives throughout our time in this life.
It’s time to abandon the tyranny of today’s tolerance and grab hold of God’s kind of loving tolerance. The kind that costs us nothing but cost Him everything. It cost Him His life to bring us back to Himself.
[1] Rick Fonds, “Lord I Lift Your Name on High”, 1989
Chet’s upcoming book, ServeLife® – How Serving Unlocks Your Purpose walks you through how your life and purpose are just like a stack of pancakes./
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