Summer 2004
Tolerance
Penny Smith

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” Matthew 7:1 NIV

Too many of us have too little tolerance for others. We judge one another when we ought to be judging ourselves. For example, a man was expressing to a minister, his dissatisfaction with the conduct of the greeters in the church he attended. He described the greeters as being cold, unconcerned, and abrupt in their demeanor, hurrying people out the door. He went on at length about the situation, when finally the minister replied.

“We should be careful about judging motives. We cannot know the heart of another individual, and to assume that a person is cold or uncaring because of how they greet us is really unfair. There may be other circumstances which cause them to seem unconcerned about you in their manner.”

He then encouraged the complainer to try to break the chain, by taking hold of the greeter’s hand in his two hands, and inquiring as to his welfare. For example, he could say, “You seem hurried and distracted. Is everything all right with you? Would you like me to pray with you about something?” This would bring to the attention of the “greeter” the manner in which he was performing his task without offending him; and it would take the complainer’s focus off himself as well.

What a wonderful word of counsel I heard that day. Hopefully, I will not soon forget it, and perhaps may have opportunity to employ it. The minister was right. We cannot judge another’s heart by outward appearance. Jesus said, “Judge not, or you too will be judged.” The reason we fall into this error is because we may have a problem tolerating another’s mistake. When people do not act in a way that pleases or at least suits us, we have little time for them; and so we form a value judgment. We not only judge the actions of others, we judge by appearances. Perhaps they are not dressed right, or their hair is not styled to our liking.

The definition of the word “tolerate” is “to lift up; to endure, without injurious effect.” We are hardly lifting up others when we are so quick to criticize or judge their appearance or their actions. The Lord often disguises His will. The prophet Samuel would have chosen Eliab to replace King Saul. He judged him by his outward appearance. But God said, “No, this is not My choice, neither are any of these brothers who are here. Is there not another?”

Young David is out in the pasture, tending sheep. “Send for him.” David, all smelly and sweaty came in, an unlikely candidate as a king. But God knew David’s heart. He knew his faults, and his weaknesses, but he also knew He could work with them, because David had a heart after God. Look at God’s opinion of David, recorded in Acts 13:22: “I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after my own heart, which shall fulfill all my will.” Would you like the Lord to also say this about you?

“The natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned (judged). But he that is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is judged of no man” I Corinthians 2:14-15

It is only by the Spirit of God that we can begin to spiritually discern another, and then our judgment is fair and scriptural, not petty, mean, and self-asserting. Paul states in I Corinthians 3:1, “I could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.” The truly spiritual individual looks for the good in others. When indeed there is a real problem, the spiritual man or woman searches for ways to help - to lift another to a higher realm. The spiritual individual will pray for you, rather than judge you.

Isaiah 53 prophetically describes Jesus as despised and rejected of men, having no beauty that anyone should desire Him. Little did they know that He was the Son of God, the Savior and King for eternity. They judged Him wrongly and mankind has suffered for it. Israel is suffering for it. The sad commentary is that we may be numbered with those who are intolerant of the truth that Jesus brought.

What about our ability to tolerate God’s people today? Are we continually finding fault with others? Jesus warns us to first take care of the problems in our own lives; then we may be able to see clearly to spiritually discern a brother or sister’s problem.

Like the minister in our opening example, we can improve the situations around us; we can lift each other by our godly concern. Let us become part of the solution rather than part of the problem. This is the way of the Overcomer.