SCRIPTURE:
I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your latter works exceed the first. But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols.
Revelation 2:19-20
OBSERVATION:
As John writes to the church of Thyatira, he first commends them, for their current works exceed those of when they first started. He affirms their love, faith and endurance, then boom! He convicts them for tolerating a false prophet.
What does it mean to tolerate? In practical terms, it means I accept something as “it is what it is” when it has fallen short of its potential, letting the little compromises slide hoping for a better result the next time. The latter also being how some define the word “insanity”.
For the church of Thyatira, although they were doing well, they were tolerating unrighteous and unrepentant behavior. In tolerating their Jezebel, they risked receiving the full blessings of the Lord. They turned a blind eye and did nothing when sin was evident. They were blind to the consequence of their tolerance.
APPLICATION:
In my life, family and ministry I need to remain steadfast in my beliefs, integrity and character. Once I begin to tolerate behavior and actions outside of Christlikeness, I risk walking out of the light and into darkness.
So, how do I create and instill a steadfast integrity that doesn’t tolerate? How do I build my character in order to stay aligned to Christ? I need to do as Pastor Wayne says, to “work harder on myself than I do on my ministry”, and what Pastor John says to “know who I am and what I’m doing here.”
I do this by:
- Having a complete devotion to God and His word. By staying in the Word I begin to “think as He thinks and act as He acts.”
- Knowing my 5%. I need to stay firm and dedicated to what God has called me, and only me, to do.
- Being accountable. Only through a genuine repentance and honestsaccountability will I dig and mine out the dark areas of my life that is hidden to my view.
PRAYER:
Jesus, may I not tolerate what may put me against you. I pray the words of David, “Search me, God, and know my heart. Test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the everlasting.” Amen
