majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Hosea 2:17,
"I will remove the names of the Baals from her lips; no longer will
their names be invoked."
The Lord tells the Israelites that when he restores them in a future
time, he will remove their participation in the religious worship of
the peoples around them. Indeed, it is precisely their choice of
worship the Lord found abominable and which prompted his judgment of
Israel.
Acceptance of others is an ideal that we are to aspire to. Paul tells
us in Romans 15:7, "Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted
you, in order to bring praise to God." Here he speaks of embracing
other believers in what he hopes for as "a spirit of unity among
yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus..." verse 5. In his letter to
the churches of Galatia he tells his readers, "There is neither Jew
nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in
Christ Jesus." There is to be an acceptance of others within the body
of Christ.
We live in a day where tolerance in our society appears to be the
quality that trumps all other virtues. We are told that we are to
tolerate others, no matter their religion, their sexual orientation
(homosexuality), what goes on behind closed doors, etc.
However, what I see in the Scriptures is that God is very intolerant
of any religious preference that places worship elsewhere. As Israel
chose a religion that did not worship him, he brought destruction to
the nation. It doesn't take much reading in the Scriptures to find
that God is intolerant of a lot of what is promoted today: sexual
immorality, homosexuality, lifestyle choices, etc.
Jesus Christ praised the church in Ephesus because they were
intolerant of sinful men, "I know your deeds, your hard work and your
perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men..."
Revelation 2:2. Likewise he condemned the church in Thyatira for their
tolerance of the sinful, "Nevertheless, I have this against you: You
tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her
teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the
eating of food sacrificed to idols." Revelation 2:20.
It may come as a surprise to many that the toleration that is demanded
of us by others is something the Lord does not share. Listen to this
piece of intolerance, "Do you not know that the wicked will not
inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually
immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor
homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor
slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God." 1
Corinthians 6:9-10. Jesus Christ said, ""I am the way and the truth
and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." John
14:6. He is not at all tolerant of other religions.
What the Lord is tolerant of - is all who will embrace him in faith.
He doesn't care about your race, your age, your nationality, your
heritage, even your sinful ugly past! He tells us, "To all who
received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to
become children of God..." John 1:12. In the earlier passage I quoted
from 1 Corinthians 6, Paul goes on to say of his readers, "Neither the
sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor
homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor
slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is
what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you
were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit
of our God." 1 Corinthians 6:9-11.
How wonderful is that?!
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd
love to hear from you!
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
No comments:
Post a Comment