When Tolerance Becomes a Trap

What we tolerate today often determines who we become tomorrow. 

That’s what Jesus was getting at in His letter to the church in Thyatira — a small, blue-collar city known for its trade guilds, purple dye, and one of the longest letters in Revelation. The believers there had grown in love, faith, service, and perseverance. By all outward measures, they were doing great.

But Jesus saw what no one else could see.
They were tolerating what He died to conquer.

A false teacher — described as “Jezebel” — had convinced believers it was okay to blend faith with culture, to participate in idolatry and immorality in the name of survival or acceptance. They called it open-mindedness. Jesus called it compromise.

It’s easy to read that and think, “That’s ancient history.” But the truth is, we face the same tension every day. In our world, tolerance has become the highest virtue — but without truth, tolerance becomes a trap. 

Misplaced tolerance makes us comfortable with compromise. 

We don’t want to be a church that’s so intolerant that people don’t feel welcome, but neither do we want to become so comfortable with culture that we lose conviction. Jesus calls us to something better — a holy tolerance that welcomes everyone but refuses to redefine sin.

“Jesus is intolerant of sin but indiscriminate in love.”

He loves us exactly as we are, but too much to leave us that way.

Let’s pray as Paul did in Philippians 1:9–10 — that our love would “abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight,” so that we can love deeply and discern wisely.

Because love without truth isn’t love at all — it’s misplaced tolerance.
And truth without love isn’t holiness — it’s hypocrisy.

So let’s hold on, church. Hold on to truth. Hold on to grace. Hold on to Jesus.

Reflection Questions:

1. Has your tolerance become your trap?

2. What compromises have you made in the name of comfort or acceptance?

3. What voices are shaping your beliefs more than the voice of Jesus?