Good Enough Isn't Good Enough

For most people, being tolerant is a virtue. In most cases, to be called tolerant is a compliment. And in most places, toleration is considered a useful, necessary, and beneficial practice. One definition of tolerate is to “allow the existence, presence, practice, or act of without prohibition or hindrance.” Another definition, and perhaps the one best understood and universally agreed upon, is “to put up with.” When I am tolerant, I have the bandwidth to accept (without judgement) a wide range of people, philosophies, and practices. And most of the time, being tolerant is a good thing. Being tolerant is encouraged, and is often a prerequisite for interpersonal and professional success. The trumpet of toleration reverberates in every corner of our culture: be tolerant of other religions! be tolerant of other lifestyles! be tolerant of all cultures! This idea of toleration has so saturated our society that rarely do most of us really think about it, let alone question it.

Well, I recently came across a searing observation made by GK Chesterton that forced me to do both. This is what he said: “Tolerance is the virtue of the man without convictions.” Ouch. Sheesh. Double Yikes. Shots fired!!!!! Chesterton suggests that tolerance and conviction move in opposite directions. He argues that the more tolerance we have, the fewer convictions we have. Conversely, the less tolerance we have, the more convictions we have. That is a radical subversion of what most of us would expect. But I think Chesterton is on to something. This is in no way to suggest that we should be petty, mean-spirited, or bigoted. But it does mean that when your convictions are reasoned, deep, and heartfelt, there are simply some things you simply will not tolerate. Your range of acceptable behaviors and conditions considerably narrows.

I have been watching a series on Hulu called the Bear. The show tells the story of an award winning chef who returns home to manage his family restaurant. When he first arrives, the restaurant is in complete disarray and is on the verge of shutting down. But step by careful step, he turns the restaurant around, and by the end of season two of the series, transforms it into a five star eatery. His convictions about what makes a restaurant great made it impossible for him to tolerate bad food, poor service, or anything less than what his standards would allow.

One of my biggest takeaways from the show is that you cannot allow your environment to dictate your standards. Otherwise, you will tolerate anything. I am sure that being tolerant can be a virtue. But more often than not, I think it is a vice. For too many of us tolerate unhealthy relationships, unexamined ideas, unacceptable conditions, and unfair treatment. Why? Because we lack convictions. Once your conviction level goes up, your toleration level goes down.

In Philippians 1:10, the Apostle Paul prays that God would help them “learn to recognize and treasure what is excellent” by “identifying the best.” (AMP). In other words, Paul was encouraging them to not just put up with anything. In every area of our lives, we should strive to "recognize and treasure” what is best. We should constantly ask ourselves “is the best I can do?” “Is this the best I can have?” “Is this the best possible outcome?” Or am I just tolerating this?

Our best example of this is God himself. The scripture says that during the process of creating the world, God would evaluate what he had created at the end of each day. For five consecutive days, God’s assessment of his work was the same. At the conclusion of each of the first five days, the scripture says that God’s response to his work was “it was good.” However, "good” was not “good enough” for God. After completing his work on the sixth day, God’s evaluation of his work dramatically changed. At the conclusion of the sixth day, God looked at his creation and said “very good.” Good enough was unacceptable.

Here’s a question: If you were God, would have stopped on the fifth day? Would you have said to yourself “good Is good enough?”

Your answer to that question is the story of your life.