We are certainly a country divided. However, we are as divided in what we say and what we actually do as we are politically. The people who castigate others for racial hatred are embracing political hatred. It is as if there is virtue in hating the haters.
Recently I made a point in a sermon: "The logs in our eyes keep us from seeing the logs in our eyes." So many people fail to see their own hatred when they denounce the hatred in others. If people are not born hating, who taught these people to hate like this? Let's not blame this on someone else. We are responsible for our own hatred.
Things don't have to be this way. It is possible to turn away from the hatred. It is a conscious decision. It is a spiritual one, too.
I do not have the ability to love some people. It is not within my flesh. Asking me to love someone that I naturally despise is like asking me to slam dunk a basketball. I can work at it and possibly get closer than I am today but slam dunking a basketball is not in my future no matter how hard I try. I need help.
So, I must rely on the One who has promised to be my Helper, the Holy Spirit. The Spirit changes me from within. Here's an example.
A few years ago there was another pastor that I didn't like. (I hate to use the word hate It is more truthful than I would like to admit.) So, I criticized him for everything he did. I said that he made believers doubt their salvation when he had a large number of baptisms. I said that he didn't respect God when he wore his hate in the church sanctuary. I said that he was full of himself. The man couldn't do anything right in my eyes.
The Holy Spirit convicted me of my feelings toward this man. The Bible clearly revealed it.
1 John 4:11-12 (ESV) 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.
The love of God was not being perfected in me because of my hatred for this man. I was like one making a whole lot of noise but saying nothing when I spoke of love (1 Corinthians 13:1) The problem was within me and I needed to be changed.
So, I committed to praying for this man every time I passed by his church. That means I did so about ten to twelve times a week. I prayed for good things to happen in his church. I prayed that he would be filled with the Holy Spirit. I prayed that his church would grow. I prayed that he would personally prosper.
An amazing thing happened without any effort on my part. I started to see the good things this man was doing. I saw how he loved the Lord and sought for souls to be saved. He became someone I look up to. And love replaced the hate.
Do I expect people who hate to start loving on their own? No more than I could expect it in my own life. The world needs Jesus if hate is ever going to be conquered. And those who have Jesus need to start doing good things for those they hate. It may be prayer. It may be helping them. It may be giving them something. It won't be sitting around hoping for change.
Yes, Christians hate, too. They hide behind righteous indignation, theological correctness and ethical superiority to do so sometimes. Hatred speaks much louder than our self-declared righteousness, theology and ethics. God must get the logs out of our own eyes if we are ever to see the logs in our own eyes.
God is still working on me. I haven't arrived, yet. And each time God removes a log, my eyes feel better.
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