July 6. One More Toleration.

As leaders of teams, it is not uncommon to see where tolerations occur. But the existence of toleration can happen in at least two ways. One way is tolerating on purpose and the other one is just being blind to something. We can rely on ourselves to be prioritizing our activities and actions.

Why tolerate anything? I am just about convinced that the only reason that we tolerate anything is because our minds are occupied with other issues as more important. As the number of members on our teams increase so can our tolerance. The number might even get exponentially increased.

Where does it stop? Maybe it should stop with us. What are you tolerating today about yourself? What might be the top three tolerations to start addressing and who would be the best person to lead the change? When the leader gets better, everyone on the team gets better.

We can teach and share the ability to stop tolerating what degrades and destroys the culture on our teams. People do not fear change, they fear the unknown costs of change. When the leader can illustrate the cost of not changing and illustrate a better way, teams follow. What is the first thing you can do in the next seven days?

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we can expect to tolerate many situations as Jesus gave us his way of life and we live in modern times. We were told as much by the predictions of the stories of the Bible. “After two years went by in this way, Felix was succeeded by Porcius Festus.

And because Felix wanted to gain favor with the Jewish people, he left Paul in prison." Acts of the Apostles‬ 24:27 NLT. Paul was left in prison for two years, not processed, not tried, just floating in limbo. That is being put in a situation where Paul had to tolerate being in prison.

Obviously, Felix had higher priorities to address. We do not control the behavior of others as much as we can praise and forgive those behaviors. But we can control our actions. What actions and behaviors are you tolerating of yourself? Go ahead and list a few out. It might be liberating to see your own list.

What is on your list that you would consider changing? Who is the first person you would ask to help you to change it? Keep in mind what you have tolerated in the past might have become a habit and the preferred method of dealing with it. If that is true, you may need a trusted coach to come alongside to help you break it.

We are the church together. Together we can break the limits that we have put in place for ourselves and potentially lead others through their limitations as well. What is the first thing you can do about it in the next seven days‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬?‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

Let us pray, Heavenly Father, you love us and through it tolerate much from this world. But today we are focused on loving you more and we can do that by bringing ourselves into a stronger union with you. Help us to gain clarity to connect and to remove those obstacles that we seem to hold near and dear to us.

Comfort us as we look at our own tolerations. To those tolerations that we are empowered to change, we say no more tolerating. For me and my house, we pray to be strong and courageous enough to change one small step at a time. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen,