Intolerant Action
“Intolerance is a Beautiful Thing” read the front of a t-shirt I saw recently. The point, of course, was found on the back: “Mother Teresa was intolerant of poverty. Bono was intolerant of AIDS. Nelson Mandela was intolerant of apartheid. Martin Luther King was intolerant of racism. Jesus was intolerant of bigotry.”
In a world that claims to value tolerance, it is intolerance — the unwillingness to accept or endure an idea, situation, or belief — that is often the catalyst for positive action. It’s more than just disliking something such as tomato juice (yuck) or baroque harpsichord music. Intolerance, for good or bad, rejects passivity and leads to radical action. This t-shirt made me think: What am I intolerant of…?
Intolerance is often equated with hate — but that assumes intolerance is always bad. Christians can be labeled as intolerant for “proselytizing” — that is, attempting to convert someone to our faith (though it is God who is actually doing the converting.) Yet you may have heard the story told by Penn Jillette, a Las Vegas headliner and outspoken atheist (available on YouTube, viewer discretion advised). After a show, a man who had volunteered to participate in the act approached Mr. Jillette and handed him a Gideon Bible. Inside the front cover, the man had written his phone numbers and email if the performer wanted to talk. Mr. Jillette states,“I don’t respect people who don’t proselytize. ..How much do you have to hate somebody to believe that everlasting life is possible and not tell them that?”
Mr. Jillette is seeing only half the equation: I think it safe to assume that the man’s action were not about a lack of hate in that man’s life, but about love and compassion. Perhaps the man with the Bible was indeed intolerant — intolerant of the idea that someone might not know the true gospel.
Many in this world believe that the God of the Bible is intolerant. And those who follow Christ cannot deny such a claim. Scripture is clear that God is indeed intolerant of sin. But the good news is that God is also intolerant of the consequences of sin on His creation and the humanity made in His image! Because of His great love, God could not tolerate leaving things this way; His intolerance, driven by compassion and mercy, led to a bold and unimaginable plan to fix everything through Christ.
On an airplane, I sometimes look out the windows and — especially when landing and things become more easily identifiable — think about the people whose lives are represented by the houses, streets, and other buildings I see. In the large city I live in, I often realize that I’m surrounded by people I’ve probably never seen before and may never see again. In both instances, my mind often ponders if these people will ever have a chance to know about Jesus, to truly understand the transforming power of God’s redeeming love.
Maybe this is just how God has “wired” my mind to my soul. But I’ve realized that the more I understand God’s heart, the more I’ve become intolerant… I’m intolerant of the fact that, in the 21st century, someone could live his or her whole life and never have an honest opportunity to know Jesus. And this intolerance moves me to ponder ever more radical actions, ever bigger steps of faith to do something about it.
