Thoughts on religious tolerance

I was sitting at a Buddhist school recently, teaching students about Jesus in front of a statue of Buddha. I started thinking about religious tolerance and the fact that we were telling these people about a God who totally clashes with their worldview. I know there are a bunch of people who think that the concept of trying to convert people to a different belief is unnecessary or just wrong. Before I met Jesus, I probably would have agreed. I would have said that there are different ways to truth and you just have to find what’s true to you and and let everyone else be. And if we’re honest, it really does sound nice, doesn’t it? Everyone can be at peace with one another and be right in their own way. But I don’t think that God wants us to just “tolerate” every belief that is out there. We were made for much more than that. It’s like there’s something in the core of our being that won’t allow us to be indifferent. I think that’s why we like great stories so much, because we yearn to see ourselves in the main character fighting for something that is true and worthy. Jesus calls us to that. He came on the scene 2000 years ago and stepped on the toes of the prominent religious leaders for his unwillingness to submit to their ritualistic and heartless religion. He warns that following Him will cost you, you may not have a place to rest your head, and you will be persecuted. Yet He declares that He is the Way and the Truth and the Life and that no one comes to the Father except through him (John 14:6). That’s a pretty exclusive claim. And so after years of searching and apathy, I am resolved that fighting for the name of Jesus is worth it. I am captivated by his story of sacrificial love for the benefit of every individual on the planet who has ever lived and ever will live. And by the hope he offers of redemption from all of our ugliness and pain. He is worth it, even if that means disturbing the peace or status quo in order to make him known. And so I chose the only One who has made me feel free, and loved, and fulfilled, and alive. And the people of the world deserve to know too- Jesus embraced death for us so that we could live. It’s a story worth living for.