The world will hate us if we look like Jesus. The cross will always be an offense to the spirit of this age. The gospel does not and will never fit the spirit of this age, and should never be shaped by the spirit of this age. Relevance and acceptance are the ugly stepsisters of tolerance, all enemies of Christian discipleship. Tolerance is a tool employed by the powers of darkness to force upon God’s church acceptance of the world’s unbiblical views and ungodly lifestyle; to challenge or oppose anything marks one with the dreaded prejudicial mark of “Intolerant.” Many in the Body of Christ have acquiesced to the world’s demand for tolerance by watering down the natural offensiveness of the message of the Cross, making it more tolerant, relevant and acceptable... more appealing, thinking they are helping to advance God’s Kingdom by making His message more appeasing to the culture and times... as if God needs their help. Far too many saints have removed the offense of the gospel from their lives and from their “Good News” message to such a degree there is not much left for the world to feel offended by... not much “good” left in the “news.” Herein we have neutered the gospel of Jesus Christ, and a neutered gospel only produces cheap grace... grace we bestow on ourselves. Those who truly follow Christ are to be the aroma of Christ in the world today: “Through us, He (God) brings knowledge of Christ. Everywhere we go, people breathe in the exquisite fragrance. Because of Christ, we give off a sweet scent rising to God, which is recognized by those on the way of salvation - an aroma relevant with life. But those on the way to destruction treat us more like the stench from a rotting corpse” (2 Cor. 2:14-16 The Message). This is the norm. To the world we give off a smell of death. Paul is not saying this is wrong; rather, this is the norm. In the world’s nose, followers of Jesus should stink like a rotting corpse! Tolerance becomes the deodorant of choice many “christians” wear to mask the offensive scent of the Cross of Christ... effectively gagging the Holy Spirit, so the world will not hold their noses around them. Through tolerance many profess Christ without possessing Him, wearing the label Christian without a lifestyle to match, awaiting the four most terrifying words a human can ever hear... “I Never Knew You.” Deodorant anyone?
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