Toleration

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We live in a world where toleration is king. As long as the other person isn't hurting you, they are free (and encouraged) to do their own thing. And after you see others "doing their own thing" often enough, that "thing" becomes normal. You get used to it. And when others do something that isn't quite so outrageous, we are relieved.

Here is an economic example of what I am talking about. Last summer, on my vacation in Colorado, we went to Estes Park. I was mortified because the price of gas in that resort community was over $3.00 per gallon. Fast forward a year and you get to June/July of 2007. In Oklahoma, in the middle of a state built on the oil industry, we were paying over $3.00 per gallon for gas. And when my local station finally dropped the price back down to $2.89, I thought I was getting a bargain. I remember when my mother threw a fit because gas climbed over 50 cents--boy have times changed!!! There is a cartoon in today's paper (I think it is Blondie and Dagwood) where the most dangerous job in America is identified--it is the job of changing the price at the gas station!

As humans, pushing the envelop and expanding into new "stuff" is what we do. Be it technology or human behavior, we are surprised by change and innovation, but after a while, we become used to it. But what worries me is that God isn't human. God doesn't have standards that change every time the wind blows. We in America have so embraced toleration that sin no longer phases us. What was sin yesterday is normal acceptable behavior tomorrow. But that is for you and I--not for God. I pray that we learn to be tolerant, without abandoning our standards. God is depending on us to model the behavior that He expects from humanity. Heaven help us if we fail--but even more so if we never even try!