I am convinced that a committed Christian will show a zealous concern for the cause of Christ. He or she will live daily with a set of spiritual convictions taken from the Bible. He or she will be one of the toughest to move—along with a God-given humility—in his or her stand for Christ. Why, then, have Christian ministers so largely departed from exhortations to love righteousness with a great, overwhelming love, and to hate iniquity with a deep, compelling revulsion?
People remark how favored the church is in this country. It does not have to face persecution and rejection. If the truth were known, our freedom from persecution is because we have taken the easy, the popular way. If we would love righteousness until it became an overpowering passion, if we would renounce everything that is evil, our day of popularity and pleasantness would quickly end. The world would soon turn on us.
We are too nice! We are too tolerant! We are too anxious to be popular! We are too quick to make excuses for sin in its many forms! If I could stir Christians around me to love God and hate sin, even to the point of being a bit of a nuisance, I would rejoice. If some Christian were to call me for counsel saying he or she is being persecuted for Jesus' sake, I would say with feeling, "Thank God!"
Verse
Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrong? . . . Habakkuk 1:3
Thought
Tolerance seems to be the greatest virtue in our culture. Habakkuk complained to God that He seemed to tolerate wrong. God may not move as quickly as we wish. But He will move against evil, sometimes in ways mysterious to us. It is our tolerance of evil that grieves the Lord.
Prayer
Father, help me. Often I am tolerant of evil and intolerant of good people who hold doctrinal views different from mine.
