The flu and respiratory ailments have been affecting many people lately. This is a warning about another infection that can cause much trouble. It is mental rather than physical, but it can cause physical ailments. This infection is called hatred. Be on guard against it for it is spreading rapidly. This article may be published if the resource box is left intact. Hatred is running rampant in the world. School children are killing each other because of it. There is road rage and work place violence because of it. The World Trade Center was destroyed because of it. Sometimes even church people who should know better get caught up in it. Hatred is obviously an overworked emotion in todays society. This evil must be avoided at all cost for it will poison your heart. Where is all this ill feeling coming from? What has happened to respecting the rights of others? Where do we get the idea that we are supposed to hate someone with a different religious belief, or ethnic background? We find racial hatred in the Bible, but God nowhere authorizes it in his book. It is apparently human nature to blame other people for our problems. We want life to be fair but it is not. Those on the bottom of the totem pole may think they were cheated in what they had to start with. Hatred for their condition may be transferred to others out of frustration. Everyone must deal with their own problems. There is no reason to hate someone because they are better off than we are. The Lord gives everyone a choice in their beliefs and actions though he may condemn them in the end. We are commanded not to avenge ourselves for vengeance belongs to God (RO 12:9). Some people think that hatred is justified. They refer to the hatred and bloodshed recorded in the Old Testament. The Lord gave Israel the land of Canaan and they were to drive out the inhabitants. Even in that barbaric society they were commanded to love their neighbor, not to hate their brother, and not to murder. Killing was for war only. In the New Testament, it is an entirely different story. The kingdom changed from physical to spiritual. Jesus kingdom is not of this world but from above. Our primary enemies are now spiritual. It is obvious that hatred was given to us for spiritual and not physical reasons. The only thing we are authorized to hate is evil. Those who love the Lord are to hate evil (RO 12:9).
Those who fear the Lord are to hate evil (PR 8:13).
The righteous are to hate what is false (PR 13:5). Physical hatred is moral evil and therefore it is sin. Sin separates us from God (ISA 59:2). Hatred is given for our spiritual survival. Hating sin enables us to avoid it and escape condemnation. It is unscriptural to hate people. This type of hate must be removed from our heart. Hatred is listed as an act of the sinful nature that will exclude one from heaven (GAL 5:19-21). Do not hate your brother (LEV 19:17).
Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer (1JN 3:15).
Love your neighbor as your self (LEV 19:18).
Do to others as you would have them do to you (LK 6:31).
Love our enemies (MT 5:43; LK.6:27-35). Hatred is an infection of the heart, the Bible mind. It is a burden that must be carried around that causes a sour disposition and a miserable life. It is best treated by the Great Physician who transformed a persecutor of Christians into a builder of the church, and a son of thunder into an apostle of love. If you are harboring a grudge because someone did you wrong, God counts you as wrong as they are. Give it up; its not worth losing your soul! Forgive them and end the matter. If you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins (MT 6:15). |
