TOLERANCE : AN INDICATOR OF SPIRITUAL MATURITY (2)

By Rev.Michael Benson Ajayi.


1 Cor 9:18-21 NLT “Under this circumstance, what is my pay? It is the special joy I get from preaching the Good News without expense to anyone, never demanding my rights. And this has a real advantage: I am not bound to obey anyone just because he pays my salary; yet I have freely and happily become a servant of any and all so that I can win them to Christ. When I am with the Jews I seem as one of them so that they will listen to the Gospel and I can win them to Christ. When I am with Gentiles who follow Jewish customs and ceremonies I don't argue, even though I don't agree, because I want to help them.  When with the heathen I agree with them as much as I can, except of course that I must always do what is right as a Christian. And so, by agreeing, I can win their confidence and help them too.”
      Here the Apostle Paul shows what it takes to be an effective disciple of Christ: adaptation and respect for individual rights and liberties without compromising on one’s belief in the lordship of Jesus Christ was the key to his success in ministry.  The church experienced true growth in grace and the knowledge of the Lord. He was both efficient and effective in the ministry of the gospel.
     The difference between being effective and efficient is seen between using an air conditioner and a fan in a hot weather. The fan is an efficient means of circulating hot air thus creating a cooling effect. On the other hand , air conditioners removes the heat and one could actually be cold in a hot weather. This is an effective means of climate control.Tolerance brings about effective church growth which is the key to societal reform , effective church growth brings about increase in the word of God in the community ; this is what saves. True church growth is not measured by how many persons there are in our auditoriums but how many less sinners there are in the community. 
     Church growth was not how many persons were in Paul's  meetings but who much less sinners were in the community (Acts19:20). Paul was not into Church building projects but Christ being formed in the hearts of his followers (Gal.4:19). This is the effect of tolerance for others. Effective evangelism requires being tolerant of other people’s custom even if it runs at variance with yours. Paul mentioned , heathens as part of his target , a people that may probably have no place in our sophisticated church settings today that thrive on an efficient principle of evangelism that encourages the promotion of name brands and self ego and growth based on societal trends without any spiritual transformation and improvement in the morality of society and an escalating intolerance among citizens.
       Paul showed great tolerance with those who opposed him , he achieved this by concentrating on the good in others.(Phil 1:15-18,4:8) There is something good about our opponents if we look well enough. Our opinion about others should be premised on their virtues , not their weaknesses considering the fact that we have errors too. Tolerance comes from putting yourself in the other person’s shoes, if out of our self-righteousness we become intolerant of others; we are committing a worse sin before the lord (Lev.19:34a,Matt 7:2-5)
    This does not mean we should be tolerant of deliberate evil doing by others haven realized the truth of the gospel for that runs contrary to God’s righteousness (Psalm101:3-5)God is slow to anger however , it is a terrible thing to fall into the lord’s  judgment (Isaiah63:9-10, Matt:18:15-17,Rom16:17) Such persons should be avoided as much as possible but not hated (1Cor.5:11).
  Prayer: Heavenly Father  , forgive me of my sins against you, I believe Jesus Christ died and was raised again for my salvation and I receive him as lord and saviour and receive grace for protection against any device designed for my  fall in Jesus name.
Free prayer/counseling +2348098536911,+2348035536911. Email:michaelbensonajayi@gmail.com.   
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