Double Standard

Don't ever mistake God's love for passivity. God cares, but his ways often conflict with conventional wisdom. He's not about "common sense." His wisdom is seen as foolishness by those who depend on the world's common sense. This is the case with the double standard God asks us to adopt.

"What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside." (1 Corinthians 5;12-13)

The issue here is how we respond to unrepentant sin with the community of Christ. The Corinthian church has a couple in flagrant and very public sin. They are unrepentant and Paul is concerned it will quite literally destroy their lives. He is also concerned about the Corinthians first century political correctness that values not rocking the boat more than the couple's welfare.

The confrontation of sin within the Christian community must be done carefully and lovingly so the guidance can be excepted and health can be reestablished. The Corinthians have to be reminded of this when the church refuses to reestablish the couple after they had repented (2 Corinthians). Whenever judgment is destructive or used to elevate ourselves over others it is sin.

But what about those outside the community? Paul reminds us that judgment does not bring life to those who don't yet know Jesus. Here grace, love, service, and truth are key. They are key inside the church as well, but judgment does not make sense to those apart from Christ. I don't expect preChristians to act as though they believe, and I don't expect them to conform their life to a God they do not yet believe in.

Judgment is a separating act, and we are not to separate ourselves from those who are far from God. Paul is clear about that. "I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people--- not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat." (1 Cor. 5:9-11)

There is a clear double standard here, and it's inspired by Jesus. He came to heal the sick, so he had to get close to the sick in order to minister to them.

Does this mean that we turn a blind eye to sin? Not at all. We are to give our lives so that God can use us to free people from the death and slavery of sin, but this must be done God's way rather than the world's way.

Do people caught in sin disgust and repel you? Do you go out of your way to keep the godless out of your life? Then you need to repent. Paul tells us that we are to associate with sexually immoral people, with the greedy, swindlers, and idolaters. How else will the power of God come into their lives and bring change? How many preChristians are a part of your life? How many do you invite over to dinner? How many do you invite to join in socially when you and your Christian friends get together?

We need to be careful that we don't become the next generation of Pharisees criticizing Jesus because he's in reaching out to sinners where they live, while we stand outside and watch the world go to hell. Love never stands by. It's never passive. It offers new hope rather than condemnation. In the end, when the time is right, God will bring the necessary judgment.

I Want THAT

I know, I promised to address A Christian Double Standard today, but that will have to wait till tomorrow. Exploration brings unexpected surprises, and that is why I try to do so much of it.

I was watching a lynda.com tutorial on designer and illustrator Stefan G. Bucher today. It's less of a tutorial than an exploration by the artist, of his influences and his art. At one point he talks about his decision to study at the Art Center of Design.

"I went to interview at two schools in Germany," he shares, "because I thought, well, I'm a German student, I live in Germany, I should go to college in Germany. And then I interviewed with them, and their like, 'Oh, yeah. This is great stuff. You're excepted. Sure, no problem.' And I thought, 'Okay. That was too easy.' Then I came here (Art Center of Design),and I thought, you know, I was kind of looking eye level, and then I was like... (Bucher look up toward the ceiling) 'Oh, I see.' and that's what I wanted. Like, I wanted (looks up again and smiles) that. I didn't want this (he looks straight ahead). I wanted THAT (once more to the sky)."

Bucher expresses a sense of wonder about life, and he has chosen projects that challenge him and make his life bigger. That's what I think faith should look like.

Christianity should not be a safe option. Faith is about moving into new territory. It's about enlarging life. If we see faith as building a fence around us to reign us in like cattle, then we have it all backwards. It is sin that blinds us to a larger world and robs us of the potential and beauty that life offers. "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery." (Gal 5:1) Jesus has brought us into a larger world to explore.

In order to enjoy it, though, we must explore it. The Holy Spirit is here as our guide, and his primary means of guidance is Scripture. Scripture should be seen as much more than moral council. It is God's way of removing our blinders and helping us to see the world as it really is. There are so many Christians around me today who live a small faith because they haven't taken the time to meet with the Holy Spirit through the study of Scripture. We can speculate on God all we want, but only Scripture will open our eyes to all that's offered.

Christianity is not safe because Jesus asks us to risk our lives. There are people in need all around us. People God loves. We are called to leave our safety zones and take a chance by serving and loving those around us. To quote Merlin in Mary Stewart's Merlin Trilogy, "I want to get in God's way, so he has to work through me." I want to know God intimately as he reaches through me to touch others.

We are to risk by telling others about Jesus so that they might have their lives enlarged, too. It is an amazing thing to be there when someone finally realizes that Jesus is real, when they realize that God loves them, when they experience new life. It's an experience not to be missed.

I follow Jesus because I'm not satisfied with life at eye level. Anyone can have that, and it gets stale after a while. I want... (okay, I'm looking up now) THAT.

(lynda.com is an amazing site that teaches you how to use the software you own, or will soon want to own, to do amazing a practical things. Go check it out. It's the most painless way to learn software I know of.)

Recognizing the Age You Live In

This is the age of grace. Judgment has it's time, and it isn't now. These are sweeping statements, but they are essential if you are to represent Christ in a way that gives honor. In Matthew 13, Jesus tells a parable about a field that is planted with wheat by a farmer. In the night an enemy plants weeds in it. As both grow up together, the farmer's workers ask if they should pull up the weeds. The farmer's response is, "No, because while you are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn."

Jesus tells us that this is the reality of the present age. Jesus has scattered good seed, but Satan has also spread bad seed. We live in a world where both good and evil grow up side by side. That's not much of a revelation. What follows is. The religious of Jesus' time would have said that we should avoid and shun those who do evil. We should not only keep them at arms length, but try to remove them from society. Jesus disagreed.

There will be a time of judgment at the end of this age, but until then, this age is about reaching out in grace to everyone around us that they might know forgiveness and redemption. Judgmental attitudes and actions separate us from those who most need the touch of grace. We don't fear the weeds because we believe that God's Spirit within us is greater than the Spirit of this world (1 John 4:4). We are careful about how we speak about those who don't believe because they are made in the image of God (James 3:9) and God loves them. And we don't avoid those caught in the world because we are obedient to God's desire that we go into the world to minister to those who are without hope (John 17:18).

This does not mean that we are passive. This is the age of grace, and we have been called to extend that grace. God so loved the world that he sent his Son into the world that we might know salvation (John 3:16). Jesus so loved the world that he called us to be fishers of men and empowered us with his Spirit to be witnesses to the gospel (Mat 4:19; Acts 1:8).

The opposite if judgmentalism is hope. Judgmentalism tries to label people, freeze them in amber, and discards others as unworthy. Hope believes that Jesus can transform any life. Hope inspires us to pray, serve, and speak to others. It is the recognition that we were hopeless until Jesus entered our lives. Out of gratitude, we spread the blessing.

This doesn't mean that we don't judge at all. We are also called to stand up for the oppressed. That means opposing the oppressors. That's righteous. It also means that we communicate truth and argue against evil, but we do it with gentleness and love. We are trying to persuade others with the truth, not merely shut them up. If our arguments do not exhibit love, dignity, and grace, if they are designed to prove our righteousness while degrading others, then we are not representing Jesus. Instead we are only exhibiting our fallenness.

Too much time is spent by American Christians trying to separate the wheat from the weeds. Too often people who do not yet believe are ridiculed and reviled in a way that kills love and hope. That's not our job. It never was our job. It will never be our job. In fact, it's sin.

God will bring proper judgment when the time is right. Now, we are to be active in making Jesus known through our words and our actions. We are to be the light in the darkness, the city on the hill, the hand extended to a world in need. In the end, it is our love that proves we have been touched by Jesus.

Interestingly, we have been called to a double standard when it comes to judgment. I'll address that next time...

Peter Falk and Wings of Desire

Today marks the passing of Peter Falk. His acting talent will be missed. Of course, he is known everywhere as Columbo. To others he is remembered for The Princess Bride. But if you have never seen Wings of Desire, you have missed a treasure. Here’s a review I wrote a few years back.

Wings of Desire is a film that explores the theology and the beauty of what it means to be human. It does this by comparing the life of angels and humans from the perspective of an angel, Damiel, who gives up his angelic existence to experience humanity firsthand.

As an angel, he doesn't have a body or the material senses a body possesses to smell flowers, see colors, or touch the curve of a woman's neck. Living in the eternal now that angels exist in, he has never felt the flow of time. He longs to be surprised by the unfolding of the future. He has understood humanity as an observer, interacted as an alien, but now he longs to experience humanity for himself. After wrestling with the question of mortality, his wish is granted.

The movie works through the gift of humanity in three movements. It begins mostly in black and white. This represents the intellectual experience of angels that don't experience our sensual life. Damiel talks to his friend Cassiel about the pretense of angels taking on temporary human guise. Going through the motions of eating, but never touching or tasting. The lack of color also adds to the contemplative mood, removing distractions while we think about the questions the angels pose. In contrast, the human perspective is presented in vibrant color and pushed along by a greater consciousness of time.

The third movement follows him as he explores the world of the senses with a child-like innocence and a sense of wonder at a world that is suddenly all new to him. But exploring the world is only the first step. As an angel, he becomes enraptured with a woman. Now, he meets up with her in the flesh. Their meeting forces both of them into the next stage of their life, the third movement. Now they must give up some of what it means to be a child in order to understand and experience love. This movie never leaves us with simple answers, though. There is an old story-teller, Homer, who wanders through the movie reminding of the dangers of forgetting the sense of wonder and the value of the small, natural things that comes easily to a child.

One of the surprises of the film is the sudden appearance of Peter Falk later in the film. He plays an actor (no big stretch there) who can see the angels and recognizes Damiel’s current situation. He is a delightful character that adds additional wonder to the movie.

This is a movie that tackles several complicated themes while remaining clear in its content and never losing sight of its characters. In fact, it is character that drives this film. The representation of the angels is about as biblical as possible given the limitations of film and the needs of the plot, which is refreshing in a time when folk tales have seemed to replace the biblical idea of angels, even among Christians. But it is the thoughtful content that allows the movie to be viewed several times without exhausting what it has to offer. You'll need to view the film at least twice since the actions of Peter Falk's character takes on a whole new meaning after you learn his secret. This movie is a treasure. Don't let it pass you by.

Common Ground

What do you, as a Christian, have in common with your preChristian neighbors? If you answered, very little, then look again. It is our common understanding that is the beginning place for persuasive conversation. If you can find no topic of agreement, no shared experience, no shared interests with those around you, then you will have little influence. If you are looking for those connecting points, then you have a chance to be heard.

You see this in Scripture. When Jesus meets the woman at the well, he strikes up a conversation. This shouldn't be an easy conversation. There are huge racial and religious tensions that exist between them, but Jesus doesn't start there. Instead, he listens, learns how she sees the world, and discovers her felt need. He doesn't deny her felt need, but he uses it as a starting place to reveal her deeper need and then offers himself as the solution to her lackluster life.

When Paul is in Athens, he is incensed by the populations slavery to idols. He decides to confront the error and enters into a public debate. Where does he start? With common ground. He knows that if he stands up and immediately blasts everyone for their ignorance, they will just turn away and stop listening. Respect is an important part of persuasion.

Paul begins with a compliment. He has observed the people he is addressing. He knows their religious fears as well as their quest for truth. He has noticed an altar to an unknown god. Paul uses this as an opportunity to describe the one true God. Then just before their eyes glaze over, he quotes one of their own teachers. The crowd is engaged again. Paul knows that he has entered into a debate by two rival schools of philosophy. Now everyone is listening closely. Whose side is Paul on? Then Paul quotes a teacher from the opposing camp.

Paul has taken the time to study each school's teaching, not to find their errors - that was too easy - but to find what they had right. Paul knew that persuasion begins with what we have in common rather than in our differences. God has communicated truth throughout the world. We have to find those places of agreement and affirm them if we hope to lead people to truth.

When I share the gospel, I begin with listening. I want to know how the person I'm talking to sees the world and how they communicate. I want to know what truth God has planted in their life. If I can't find something they believe about which I can say, "Yes, I think you right there", then I am unlikely to get an open and thoughtful hearing.

Yes, Jesus had to jar the religious of his day by pointing out their shortcomings and their differences with God. Jesus didn't run from a fight, but he also didn't look for them. He began with inspiration and understanding, especially when dealing with those far from God. Jesus' harsh words were reserved for the religious leaders, but only after he had tried a softer approach. He took the time to explain himself to Nicodemus. He talked over supper with Pharisees. Jesus never started from a position of pride. He knew who he was and didn't have to prove anything to anyone, but he chose to humble himself and relate to them in a way that helped them to listen and respond. He started with them like he starts with us all. He entered their world, to share their experiences, to find common ground, and then, to lead them to truth. His desire is to continue that work through us if we will let him.

Jesus is at Home on Campus

I have a movie screen in my head. Don't look so surprised, so do you. We all have pictures that flash to mind at the mention of a topic, person, event, or idea. When people ask me how a student could possibly keep his or her faith at college, I think I know the picture that is reflecting off their grey matter: a country scene (adjusted to their region) with a small, white steepled church bathed in a single ray of sunlight. It's a picture shaped by our culture. The church, the people of God, flourish in simple, slow, uncomplicated settings. That is our culturally conditioned picture of the church, but it clashes with the picture Scripture and history give us of the early church.

For almost three hundred years the church was all about cities. Jerusalem, Ephesus, Athens, and Corinth were crowded, busy, flourishing cities. They were seats of commerce and learning. In the early centuries of the church all ministry was directed toward cities. In fact, our modern word "pagan" originates from the ancient word for country folk.

If our current understanding of the Christian faith includes a fear of the diversity, complexity, learning, and issues of city life, then our picture doesn't match that of Jesus and his early disciples. Not only did Christians seek out the cities, they flourished there. If our faith is up to the university, then it's a faith shaped by culture rather than Scripture, and there lies the problem.

We are finding that more and more Christian students enter college with beliefs that are shaped more by culture and opinion rather than by Scripture. It's not their fault. They have been raised in churches that have not taken their Christian education seriously. Entertainment and pep talks have taken the place of careful teaching. This trend, more than anything else, puts students at risk.

The cure is easily within reach. Christian education needs to be taken seriously parents and church leadership. You have a responsibility: "And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others." (2 Tim 2:2) each generation has a responsibility to the next.

Students can easily improve their situation. Begin with Scripture. Bath yourself with the words of Jesus. Become familiar with his character and voice. In addition, read sound theology. Writers such a Timothy Keller, N. T. Wright, Eugene Peterson, and John Stott are a good place to start. Avoid trendy, pop theology for belief that has stood the test of time. Commit yourself to campus fellowship which have committed themselves to good teaching and learning.

The second cure is to actively apply what Scripture teaches. Discover the nature of Jesus' ongoing mission and add your strength to the effort. Prayer, worship, fellowship, and your life in the Spirit gain meaning and value when you allow Jesus to touch the world through you.

The city and the university don't scare us. It's where it all began. But a soft, intellectually weak, selfish faith cringes at the thought. If your faith doesn't fit the challenge, then let God adjust your faith to match his vision. If we do, then God's strength will replace our fear.

Civility: Honoring the Image of God

I have found that I have need to repent as of late. That's no real surprise in and of itself. It's the subject of the repentance that took me by surprise. Like others, I follow politics. Like others, I have opinions and passions about our country. Like others, I sometimes disagree with President Obama or Sara Palin. And like others, I sometimes say... Well, unkind things about them. And there's the problem. I'm not supposed to be like others.

In his book, Generous Justice, Timothy Keller writes:

"The Bible teaches that the sacredness of God has in some ways been imparted to humanity, so that every human life is sacred and every human being has dignity. When God put his image on us, we became beings of infinite, inestimable value."

He notes a couple examples of this from Scripture.

"And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each man, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of his fellow man... for in the image of God has God made man." - Genesis 9:5-6

"...but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness." - James 3:8-9

It is part of our witness of the gospel that we affirm the value and the dignity of each person because they are made in the image of God. This is more than just good manners. This is worship. How can we say we honor God if we don't honor the image of God?

In the negative, we live in a culture that seems to enjoy tearing each other apart. It's one thing to disagree with someone and to voice that disagreement. Regardless of what our politically correct culture may say, discussion, debate, and disagreement are healthy and necessary if we are to live and work together. But it's a sign of the schizophrenic nature of our cultural wisdom that we insist on political correctness when it suits us and then we resort to name calling and the tearing down of people's reputation when they disagree with us.

God takes this seriously. We don't murder people because they are made in the image of God, and we don't (shouldn't) tear people down, make them fell insignificant, or call them names - again because they are made in the image of God. The world will pursue it's foolishness. We will be on the receiving end of this destructive foolishness because we follow Christ. But we need to take care that we never follow the world's example. When we do, the world sees the people of God abusing the image of God and even the unredeemed can sense something tragic is occurring.

On the positive side, if we bring love, acceptance, and dignity to others, we will be like a cold glass of water to one dying in the desert, we will be a bubble of peace in the battleground of clashing, insecure egos. We will be meeting people as Christ met us.

To love, accept, and bring dignity to others doesn't mean you agree with their error and their way of life. It is unloving to affirm those things that are destructive. But it does mean giving them your time and energy, not for what they can do for you or for their achievements, but because they are valuable in themselves because they are made in the image of God.

The first step begins with our tongue. You may not agree with President Obama or with Sara Palin (or Richard Dawkins, or Bill Maher, or...). That's fine. Debate and discuss the differences, but the moment you start tearing them down, make demeaning disrespectful remarks about them as people, refer to them in ways that try to rob them of dignity, then you are tearing down the image of God. James is shocked that the same tongue that can praise God can curse the image of God. We are not to follow our culture's lead. We are to be witnesses to the glory and grace of the God who met us in our sins, sacrificed himself for us before we even knew him, and gave us the gift of dignity, love, and salvation.

Being civil is God's idea, not ours.

Invite Others to Change the World with You

An event took place during my senior year of high school that changed by life. I was asked to help some Christians on one of their projects. I was interested in, and still am, in film and drama. Reading, film, stage, and storytelling are among my strongest passions. This group was building a TV studio for a kids show that they were going to produce. Someone in the group knew of my interests, and I was invited to help put the studio together.

I was a bit weary. While I had some church experience, I did not consider myself to be a believer. I had been dropped off at Lutheran conformation classes, and I remember the day my class stood before the church and recited our belief in all that Christ had done. Not only wasn't I really sure who Jesus was or what he had done, I was pretty sure I didn't believe what little I knew. But what was I going to do? I was standing up there in front of everyone. I read my lines.

If this group of Christians knew that I hadn't yet embraced their most cherished beliefs, would they still want me there? Turns out the answer was, "Yes." Turns out I hadn't pulled the wool over their eyes. They knew I wasn't an insider, but they hoped that I might change my mind if I could see the faith up close.

They didn't make me pray with them or go to church with them. They just let me help. As a result I discovered something new. They got tired like everyone else. They got irritable like everyone else. They hit their thumbs with a hammer and then yelled at each other like everyone else. Then they came back, confessed their sin to each other, asked for forgiveness and then received forgiveness like nobody I had met before. Something made their lives together different. Something empowered them to move beyond their own weakness. As I listened to them talk to each other sharing their fears, concerns, and hopes, I discovered that something was a Someone. The experience intrigued me enough to pick up a Bible for the first time and figure out who this Jesus person was.

We need to share the story of Jesus with everyone. We are all to be fishers of men and women, but words are often not enough. God is using us to change the world. At least he is if we are faithful. "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." (James 1:27) If our faith does not show itself in ministering to the needs of a fallen world, then we don't yet know Jesus (James 2:18-20). One of the best ways to witness and engage those who don't yet know Jesus is to invite them to help with the work God has called us to.

What? Invite unbelievers into the important work of the gospel? Isn't that inviting trouble?

I'm here today because a small group of Christians believed, "You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world." (1 John 4:4) If you want to see changed lives, let people get close. Let them belong before they believe.

Now, if you have no service projects or ongoing work to better the world that you can invite people to join you in, that's a different story. You need to take some time to reread the gospels and be reintroduced to the Lord of love. He will change your life.

Change Through Beauty

How do you change the world? Perhaps the first question should be, why would you want to change the world? Some want to change it for personal power or prosperity. Others are motivated by ideology. Jesus is motivated by people. We live in a world where people are ground up by neglect, poverty, slavery, abuse, and addiction; where people find their life leached away by the controlling power of sin. Jesus works to overturn the status quo because it's killing people. This shapes how Jesus works to change the world. His primary work is to bring beauty into the world, and that should be our mission as well.

Some people try to change the world by focusing on what they want to get rid of. This doesn't work. While we need to deal with the problems of the world, you bring change by focusing on your target, on the change you hope to achieve. Paul exhorts each of us to, "Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things (Col 3:2)." He then unpacks the idea. We are not to live by our culture's rule. We are to throw off selfish and destructive behavior and to follow Jesus' example of life-giving love. We are to bring beauty into the world.

Confession time. I grew up as a Boy Scout. My father was a scout master, and there is a newspaper clipping from an Alaskan newspaper with me at age four standing next to my Dad in a specially made scout uniform (Yeah, it explains so much). The scouts have a goal to do at least one good deed a day, and while some people make fun of that, the practice was based on Jesus (Boy Scouts began as a Christian outreach). If you want to express Christ to the world, you do it with acts of love.

You are not going to change the world by complaining about it. Protest and violence spark fear and hatred rather than inspiring action. Peer pressure lasts only for the moment. We can't force love through politics (although we can and should protect people through the law). We are to speak out against injustice and ignorance, but we bring change by majoring in love rather than focusing on sin.

You want to change the world for Jesus? It begins with small things. Listen to an ignored person. Share with someone in need. Stand between the oppressed and the oppressor. Visit the forgotten. Help the sick. Give hope to the hopeless. You don't have to look far. I can look around me on the campus I work on and there is a lot of need. You can't minister to all the world's need. You're not asked to. Every day, your asked to touch someone.

Beauty is contagious. Just look at Jesus. Who else has inspired so much good while only living in the public spotlight for just three short years? Yes, people have done evil in Jesus name and that is wrong, but so much more good has been done. Love and beauty are the main themes of both the Old and the New Testament. It should be ours as well. Be purposeful. Look for some way to bring beauty into someone's life today. Change the world.

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness the prisoners,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
and provide for those who grieve in Zion---
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the Lord
for the display of his splendor.
Isaiah 61:1-3

Tolerance is not Approval

Tolerance is a virtue that seems to be in short supply these days. There was a day when the defining issue was whether you were a Mac or a PC. The platform wars waged among an informed few while everyone else just shook their heads and got on with their lives. Today there are bold lines drawn between many people based on political views, nations of origin, scientific ideas, sexual habits, and even whether or not you recycle. Judging and ridiculing other people has become a national pastime, but there is no place for this among the people of God. We are to be a people of tolerance.

Don't get me wrong. Judgments need to be made. There is a path that leads to life and one that leads to destruction. There is right and wrong, good and evil, but our understanding of what is right and wrong comes from God and not our culture. Tolerance does not mean that we approve the wisdom of culture. Tolerance means we accept and love the people around us. Tolerance is the act of putting up with someone who is irritating or unpleasant. It is the act of putting up with and enduring hardship. As a disciple of Jesus, I am not tolerant for tolerance sake. I am tolerant so that I may minister to people who do not know yet know the love of God. The intolerance that draws lines between people is a barrier that hinders love and darkens the revelation of Christ in us.

There is one story that is repeated in all the synoptic gospels (Mat 9:9; Mark 2:14; Luke 5:27). Jesus call Levi, a tax collector, to follow him. Levi expresses his excitement and gratitude by inviting all of his friends to a party with Jesus. Jesus didn't correct him. He didn't tell Levi, "These are the wrong kind of people to be seen with." Instead, Jesus gladly went to the party. He wanted to meet Levi's friends. He wanted to get close enough to them that they might know him and find life.

The Pharisees saw this and confronted Jesus' disciples. They asked what Jesus was doing hanging out, partying with tax collectors and sinners. This was not the approved activity for a religious man. There were lines that needed to be drawn. People that should be judged rather than related to. Jesus' famous response was, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."

Jesus didn't accept or defend their ideas or their lifestyle. In fact, he was working to change these people's lives, but God's wisdom is that lives are changed by love, involvement, and by treating people with dignity. When we judge people and keep them at arms length, it means that we have no desire to see their lives changed for the better. Instead, we are communicating to all that we see others as irritants, problems, and pests.

It's a good thing that Jesus is tolerant because compared to him we are all losers. Christ didn't embrace me because I am such a prize. He embraced me because he loves me. That love has changed my life. Out of gratitude and by his power, my life has changed, and the changes are far from over. Jesus tolerated me, but he did not accept my sin. He forgave my sin at a high cost. He also called me to a life that was not possible until I acknowledged him as Lord. But none of that would have been possible if God hadn't loved me enough to send tolerant believers into my life to communicate God's love for me.

So each time I am tempted to dismiss someone because they are a Democrat, a Tea Party member, or a Republican - every time I am tempted to see someone who speaks with an accent or in another language as a problem - every time I am tempted to shrink from someone because they live a different lifestyle or follow a different belief - I try to ask myself whether I would have been out on the sidewalk with the Pharisees or in the party with Jesus? Am I willing to endure hardship so that someone might know truth and life? Or will I walk the same path of sin and failure as the world around me? I hope I always choose tolerance.