You Get What You Tolerate

You get what you tolerate. That's true in your family, at your job, and many areas of our personal lives. I recently had this revelation in training my son. Whatever behavior I'm willing to accept he will give me. If I give him 5 requests for obedience before I enforce consequences, he will always wait until he knows the consequence is coming. If I accept only immediate obedience he will learn to obey immediately. Often we accept things in our life that we should not accept. Some of you are facing an addiction to some chemical or some habit that you know needs to be annihilated, yet you continue to tolerate it.  Others are in unhealthy relationships with a spouse or a co-worker and you continue to accept their abuse and dysfunctional communication. At times in my life I want to accept behavior patterns of anger or a lack of joy that I know need to change. I find myself wanting to make excuses for a lack of excellence or a lack of commitment in my life and in our organization. I am challenged by this thought: "when we accept apathy and carelessness with the tasks of the kingdom it becomes the norm." I am being challenged today to not accept anything less than God's best. In the power of His Holy Spirit and because of His grace I am seeking to acknowledge areas in my life, in our church and in my family that need to change. I am learning to say, "that's not acceptable" to myself and to our team. In love I am learning to say, "you are better than that, God has put something greater inside of you." The vision God has given me for my life and for our church is worth calling people to a higher standard of living. What are you tolerating that you know you shouldn't tolerate? In the power of the Holy Spirit and with God's love challenge yourself and those around you to take it up. The vision is worth it!