Today we hear a lot about tolerance and accepting people as they are. But in light of eternity is tolerance always loving? And what if we try to speak the truth and are told we need to be more like Jesus and just love everyone? Could they be right? Or could that be a misunderstanding of what is truly loving?

Today’s Readings:

Hosea 7 & 8
Psalm 139.7-12
Proverbs 29.20
2 John 1-13

Does Tolerance Always = Loving Others?

2 John 1-13:

Faith, Love & Truth

The book of 2 John was written primarily to warn against the danger of false teachers who were trying to infiltrate the church. Like 1 John, it calls the readers back to the basics of Christianity: faith, love, and truth.

⁵ I am writing to remind you, dear friends, that we should love one another. This is not a new commandment, but one we have had from the beginning. ⁶ Love means doing what God has commanded us, and he has commanded us to love one another, just as you heard from the beginning (NLT).

Truth, Love & Tolerance

But sometimes obeying God’s Word and demonstrating biblical love for others seems contrary to what is commonly called love. The world often defines love as “tolerance” or “acceptance.” And when believers stand up for the truth, especially in the area of sexuality, we’re told we need to be more like Jesus and just love everyone.

Yet, if you study the Gospels, you’ll see that Jesus didn’t tolerate the Pharisees and their false, legalistic teaching. Neither did He tolerate sin. He loved sinners enough to tell them to “go and sin no more” (Jn. 8.11).

If we’re going to walk in faith, love, and truth, we too must be willing to say things that sometimes sound intolerant (Prov. 27.5-6; Matt. 18.15-17; Eph. 4.14-15; Gal. 6.1-2). This is true with individuals, within the church, and in the culture at large.

With Individuals

Perhaps you have a married female friend who has mentioned to you that she and a male co-worker have had lunch together several times or you have observed another married friend flirting. You may see all kinds of red flags. While you shouldn’t jump to the worst possible conclusion, it’s not loving to pretend it’s no big deal. You may need to lovingly warn your friend of the danger of spending time one-on-one with someone of the opposite sex or playing around with something that might jeopardize her marriage. One way to begin the conversation might be to use an example from your own life when you thought something was harmless, but later realized it was a slippery slope.

Or maybe you have a co-worker who announces he or she is getting “married” to his or her same-sex partner and hands you an invitation. You know refusing to go will not be taken well, but you, also, know you can’t support your friend’s choice.

You can graciously thank them for the invitation and then pray for an opportunity to talk to him or her one-on-one, preferably outside of work. Confirm your love and concern for both of them and ask if they have considered what God has to say about their decision. Let them know that while you care about them, you have to care more about what God thinks. Don’t be harsh or self-righteous but, remember, their eternity may very well be at stake.

Within the Church

Many today believe we should simply get along with anyone and everyone who calls themselves a Christian. You may be called critical or legalistic if you believe good doctrine matters. Certainly, there are things on which godly, Bible-believing Christians can disagree. But there are other things that are essential to the faith and important to how we live and conduct ourselves.

In Paul’s instructions to Titus about the qualifications for elders, Paul said:

⁹ holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught, that he may be able, by sound doctrine, both to exhort and convict those who contradict (Tit. 1.9).

While these are requirements for elders, they are characteristics that we should all be living out. 2 John says:

⁷ I say this because many deceivers have gone out into the world. They deny that Jesus Christ came in a real body. Such a person is a deceiver and an antichrist. ⁸ Watch out that you do not lose what we have worked so hard to achieve. Be diligent so that you receive your full reward. ⁹ Anyone who wanders away from this teaching has no relationship with God. But anyone who remains in the teaching of Christ has a relationship with both the Father and the Son.

¹⁰ If anyone comes to your meeting and does not teach the truth about Christ, don’t invite that person into your home or give any kind of encouragement. ¹¹ Anyone who encourages such people becomes a partner in their evil work.

The specific teaching John was addressing was most likely an early form of Gnosticism. But there are many doctrines out there today that are just as dangerous.

In the Culture at Large

God called the Nation of Israel to live separately from the nations around them. The commands and laws were intended, in part, to protect them from pagan influences. But they were, also, to be His witness nation drawing others to Him by the purity of their lives.

We don’t have the same restrictions. Instead, we have the Holy Spirit living in us to help us grow in holiness and be God’s ambassadors to a dark world.

Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God (2 Cor. 5.20).

That call is two-fold, standing for righteousness and sharing the gospel with those around us (Matt. 28.19-20).

Avoid Foolish Disputes

But it’s always important even with hot-button issues like abortion and sexuality that we don’t become argumentative or sinfully angry.

²³ But avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife.²⁴ And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, ²⁵ in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, ²⁶ and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will (2 Tim. 2.23-26).

While we are to do so in love, it doesn’t mean we don’t speak the plain truth. Believers need to be called to repentance if they are living sinfully. And unbelievers need to be warned of the judgment to come for all who don’t repent and believe. That means we can’t just point out sinful lifestyle choices. We need to share the gospel.

Trust God for the Results

These kinds of conversations don’t always go well from a natural perspective, but if we do our part to speak the truth in love, we can trust God for the results. In the meantime, we can pray for the other person. Pray that God will use the seeds we’ve planted and that He will send others into their paths to speak truth to them. We must, however, remind ourselves that the risk of offending someone here on earth is nothing compared to the eternal consequences.

⁹ Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, ¹⁰ nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God (1 Cor. 6.9-10).

Why We Don’t Share the Gospel

Today’s Other Readings:

Hosea 7 & 8:

Israel Has Forgotten His Maker

This little book of Hosea contains some of the strongest prophecies against His people, alongside the greatest picture of His redeeming love. Although He declared judgment for their rejection of Him, He also promised to “buy them back,” just as He commanded Hosea to do for his unfaithful wife, Gomer.

Psalm 139.7-12:

Attempting to Run from God

Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence (v. 7)?

When we are not living our lives in ways that are pleasing to God, we often try to avoid anything that will convict us of our sin. We find excuses to miss church, quit reading our Bibles, and avoid anyone who will question us or hold us accountable.

But as the psalmist said, “Where can I flee from Your presence?”

So even though we try to run from God, if we are truly His children, He never leaves us (Heb. 13.5) and there is nowhere we can hide. And though we may suffer the consequences of our sinful choices, nothing can separate us from His love (Rom. 8.38-39).

But if we can continue sinning without coming under a conviction that leads to repentance, we must examine ourselves to see if we genuinely belong to Him.

Proverbs 29.20:

Hasty Words

Do you see a man hasty in his words? There is more hope for a fool than for him.

Proverbs says that even a fool when he keeps quiet is considered wise (Prov. 17.28), but when we blurt out the first thing that comes to our mind, we often live to regret it.

Coming Up:

In the next few days, we’ll talk about false teachers, friendship, judgment, the Rapture, the Tribulation, grace, and the responsibility involved in being a true friend. I hope you’ll join us.

Get Ready for the Coming Year with a Plan for Your Bible Reading

The holidays are just around the corner and the new year will be on us before we know it. What will you do to make Bible reading an ongoing habit in the coming year? I want to encourage you to set a goal to read through the Bible again or for the first time. If you join me here, I’ll take you through a plan that covers both the Old and New Testaments in about 15 minutes a day. Sign up here for my daily email. It can serve as a gentle reminder to stay on track and I believe you’ll benefit from the additional background and application comments that I share.

Start today so you can begin the habit and it will be a regular part of your day come January.

You can also follow me on Twitter, Facebook, or Pinterest. Just click on the social media icons. But nothing replaces having the daily devotion pop up in your inbox each day. It, usually (once in a while life gets in the way), goes out at 6 a.m. MST.

Blessings as you grow in Christ,
Donna ♥

Note about this post:

I began blogging through the Bible in 2012 and have done so every year since then. These posts are the product of many edits and additions throughout those years. Some days I make major changes, other days fewer. 

A while ago, I read Jen Wilkin’s book None Like Him about the attributes of God. One is His incomprehensibility. In it, she says, “God is incomprehensible. This does not mean that he is unknowable, but that he is unable to be fully known.”

I have found that to be true each year as I’ve gone back through the Bible. Sometimes I find myself feeling as if a passage just appeared there for the first time. I’m reminded that no matter how many times we read through the Bible, we have only scratched the surface. I hope you feel the same.

Indeed these are the mere edges of His ways,
And how small a whisper we hear of Him!
But the thunder of His power who can understand?” (Job 26.14)

I sometimes LINKUP with these blogs.