Ministry is a hard thing. It reaps the joys of seeing people experience positive change in their lives, but it also struggles and suffers through the arrogance and intolerance of difficult people. In my personal life, nothing rocks my boat harder than hate talk. I can disagree with someone and still love, value, and respect that person. I have done it often.
However, there are also people out there who are not about finding common ground. They are not interested in a conversation where each side hears the other. Their focus seems to be only to push their opinions on others with no intention of changing their minds. They are not there to respect others, they are there to throw rocks so that they might feel more secure about their own views.
To be honest, I have been guilty of doing such things. I have entered a conversation with the sole purpose of throwing my "Jesus comment" in there and shunning all else that is said. I have approached many conversations with the wrong motives and have dug deep holes that strained relationships for the sake of me getting my 2 cents in. I am not happy about those instances.
When I read Scripture, I never see Jesus having an argument. I see Him having conversations. I see Him listening to others and meeting them where they are. I see Him putting love first, corrective teaching second. And I am guilty of not always following that model.
You see, we like to get caught up in this tolerance vs. intolerance war. Some people have the mindset of "I support tolerance so much, I cannot tolerate your intolerance". Others approach the scene with a "whatever you say" attitude and don't make a stand for anything. I don't believe the path that Jesus took was one that completely accepted any cultural side. The Jesus I know tolerated the people around Him enough to eat with them, hang out with them, talk with them, travel with them, and stay in their homes.
This same Jesus, however, was so intolerant of their sin that He died to give them freedom from it. To give us freedom. I am beginning to understand that Jesus tolerated people enough to love them and meet them where they were, but He wasn't tolerant enough to let them go on hopeless and condemned.
Here in America, we get wrapped up in tolerating others and living at peace with each other so much that it feels like sometimes Christians have comfortably exiled themselves to stereotypes. The Christian community is known to be hypocritical, intolerant, judgmental, and hateful. Are we so? Sometimes...but Jesus broke through the stereotypes placed on Him. He lived radically in a way that those around Him, even "church folk" had no idea what to do with Him.
There is a conflict in society. There will always be people pushing to be accepted. And there will always be people trying to bar the gates against them. Humanity has always been this way. Even in the days when Jesus walked the earth, these cultural conflicts were happening. What I never saw was Jesus taking sides. Jesus abided in one place; the will of God.
My prayer for myself and the Christians of my generation is that we would remember the example Jesus set. He stood for truth, He lived out love, and He broke through cultural stereotypes. Jesus was not a hater. But He made a stand when a stand was called for. He was courageous. He did not push His own agenda, but only did what He saw the Father doing.
I cannot say that I do the same. I am guilty of jumping into a conversation to enforce my opinions and strike out against someone who is, in my mind, speaking foolishly. I am guilty of trying to correct someone before I love them. I am guilty of being hateful and intolerant in some areas. I am also guilty of being too tolerant and remaining passive when someone ought to make a stand for something. Jesus did not lead a ministry that was focused on the cultural opinion. If I am to follow Jesus as a Christ follower should, I cannot get caught up in these things either.
