I'm going to go on record and say that I am sick to death of everyone talking about tolerance. Tolerance isn't a good thing. It's a horrible thing. It's apathy wrapped in a tidy package and sold to the masses as being the ideal. Forget tolerance. Let's talk Love!
I don't mean love in that watered-down, feel-good warm fuzzies way, either. I mean love in its truest, realest, toughest form. It's love that refuses to back down when people around them are being attacked. It's love that refuses to look the other way when someone is going hungry or is homeless or is in need. It's the kind of love that refuses to accept less than the very best for every person around them, and won't hide the truth because they know the truth is what people really need to get the very best life possible for them. It's love that is willing to suffer and die for the sake of even someone who hates them and has abused them. Yes, that's the kind of love that I want, and it's the kind of love you deserve to have from me. That's what needs to replace this pile of refuse known as tolerance.
I hate cooked carrots. I really do. I'll tolerate them on my plate, but refuse to let them become a part of me. I won't unite myself with them. I push them off to a lonely corner of my plate, loathe to allow them to touch any of my other food for fear their taste will contaminate the rest of my food. That's what tolerance is - isolating something you can't stand to a sad little corner so it doesn't have a chance to contaminate you or anything else you enjoy. That's why I say to forget tolerance. Let tolerance be for broccolli or brussel sprouts or cooked carrots or hail storms or any other thing, but never let tolerance be for people. We should love people, not tolerate them.
I'm not going to tolerate your sins, because I don't want you to go to hell. I want you to live and I want you to be happy not just in the next life but in this one, too. I want you to have what I have - that steadfast knowledge that there is a God who so loves me that He willingly laid down His life even though I didn't deserve it. I want you to know what it's like to not have to hide who you really are behind a shield because you're too afraid of getting hurt or of other people discovering how unlovable you are when the truth is that the real you is an awesome, amazing person and the world NEEDS to know you. I want you to know what it's like to have someone in your life who will choose to love you no matter what you've done, no matter how bad a mistake you've made, and who will always offer you forgiveness and an open door whenever you are ready to walk back in to their lives. That's what I want for you. Tolerance won't get you that, but love will.
So, let's forget tolerance. Let's you and I discuss love, what it means to love, and let me show you what that kind of fearless, unconditional, all-powerful love can do for your life. I know what it can do, because I've seen it working in my own life and the lives of those around me.
I don't mean love in that watered-down, feel-good warm fuzzies way, either. I mean love in its truest, realest, toughest form. It's love that refuses to back down when people around them are being attacked. It's love that refuses to look the other way when someone is going hungry or is homeless or is in need. It's the kind of love that refuses to accept less than the very best for every person around them, and won't hide the truth because they know the truth is what people really need to get the very best life possible for them. It's love that is willing to suffer and die for the sake of even someone who hates them and has abused them. Yes, that's the kind of love that I want, and it's the kind of love you deserve to have from me. That's what needs to replace this pile of refuse known as tolerance.
I hate cooked carrots. I really do. I'll tolerate them on my plate, but refuse to let them become a part of me. I won't unite myself with them. I push them off to a lonely corner of my plate, loathe to allow them to touch any of my other food for fear their taste will contaminate the rest of my food. That's what tolerance is - isolating something you can't stand to a sad little corner so it doesn't have a chance to contaminate you or anything else you enjoy. That's why I say to forget tolerance. Let tolerance be for broccolli or brussel sprouts or cooked carrots or hail storms or any other thing, but never let tolerance be for people. We should love people, not tolerate them.
I'm not going to tolerate your sins, because I don't want you to go to hell. I want you to live and I want you to be happy not just in the next life but in this one, too. I want you to have what I have - that steadfast knowledge that there is a God who so loves me that He willingly laid down His life even though I didn't deserve it. I want you to know what it's like to not have to hide who you really are behind a shield because you're too afraid of getting hurt or of other people discovering how unlovable you are when the truth is that the real you is an awesome, amazing person and the world NEEDS to know you. I want you to know what it's like to have someone in your life who will choose to love you no matter what you've done, no matter how bad a mistake you've made, and who will always offer you forgiveness and an open door whenever you are ready to walk back in to their lives. That's what I want for you. Tolerance won't get you that, but love will.
So, let's forget tolerance. Let's you and I discuss love, what it means to love, and let me show you what that kind of fearless, unconditional, all-powerful love can do for your life. I know what it can do, because I've seen it working in my own life and the lives of those around me.
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