Love & Hate

Over the years, I have had many people dislike me - or even hate me - for one reason or another, and it generally doesn’t bother me too much, except when it’s Christians.  Christians are called to a higher standard, because the Bible says in John 13:34-35, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.  By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
  Love is the opposite of hate and hate creeps in when you are far from God.  Do not let hate sneak into your life.  If you are a believer of Jesus, we cannot hate and love at the same time.

 I have made many mistakes in my life - including gossiping and disliking others.  One time, I was very mad at a woman who was supposed to be watching my kids, and without going into any details, she was not doing a great job in my opinion.  I texted a friend to vent about the situation, and just let all of my feelings out in that text.  It was rude, it was hurtful, it was wrong, and it was sent to the wrong person.  In my haste to gossip about what a bad babysitter this other woman had been, I had sent it to her (the babysitter) by mistake!  I felt awful.  It was such a huge wake up call that what I was doing, and feeling was wrong, and as a Christian, I needed to set a much better example than that.  I am a woman who knows who God is, and because I know that, people are watching, following my example, and some are even waiting for me to mess up and make these kinds of awful mistakes.  I apologized to her, to the woman I was intending to text, and have tried very hard not to make that same mistake again.  This was a very good example of saltwater and freshwater flowing from the same spring, and I was so caught up in my own hatred that I couldn’t see it.  I truly couldn’t see it!  I have forgiven myself in time, but I have never forgotten that.
 Having said all of this, love is not acceptance.  I can love a person, and still think that what they are doing is wrong.  If the person is a Christian, the Bible tells us to call each other out on our sins.

It’s good to keep each other accountable in love, but “in love” is the most important part of that.  We are still called to love one another “for love comes from God.”  You see people being ugly to one another on the news, social media, right in front of you in line at Starbucks, and the reason it makes us uncomfortable is because this behavior is not from God.  So, I urge you to love one another as Christ first loved us.  1 John 4:19 says: “We love because he first loved us.”  Such a simple mantra to write on your mirror, write on a piece of paper, and write on your hearts.  Love one another.  The next time you find yourself hating someone for whatever reason, remember these words because hate is not from God.  Love comes from God.