Being that it is Saint Valentine's Day, I thought it wise to do a relevant topical post. Thus I will be discussing hatred in the Christian's life, and how to fight it with grace!
Two things I must get out of the way: First, I will be using the terms "hate", "anger", and "wrath" in their various forms and different contexts, for they each will have different meanings depending on the context so do the mental work and pay close attention.
The second thing is that there is one instance where hatred is not a sinful bent of the human heart, and I am speaking of course of God's hatred for sin, for idolatry in the human heart that steals away our affections from Him.
Now then, with that out of the way, let's get started....
Sinful hatred first entered the world at the same time sin did, and God's hatred for that sin existed with Him from the beginning, (this is a divine mystery having to do with God's perfect foreknowledge and His perfect plan for the world He created).
Hate is the opposite of the Virtue known as Love, and while that may seem like a weak statement, or a childish one, recall that a bitter spiritual war has raged since the Fall between the Divinity of God and the Sin of the devil (the original hater).
Hate is the prime suspect behind murder, for it is a powerful enough emotion on its own, but when combined with a selfish and sinful soul, it can so easily become deadly.
The first murder, the murder of a brother came about because of this intense anger, this Hatred. Genesis 4:5-8 "...but for Cain and his offering He [God] had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell....Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother and killed him."
The first human act out of hate... A brother murdered a brother in cold blood. The Lord said this in Leviticus as He was giving His Law to His people Israel. Leviticus 19:17-18 "You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I AM the LORD"
This is what God has to say about this vile hate that men nurse in their hearts, and vengeance we see is another avenue that hatred can carve in your heart, if you let anger stay there.
You see my friends, anger is the root of hatred. It all starts there, perhaps it seems innocent for a time, but if anger is allowed to rest in your hearts, it will take root and grow, just as any other sin. Sin doesn't stop small, it wants to grow and devour your heart and soul. and it will do anything to do that. Anger that has festered and broiled in the heart turns into bitterness, and bitterness will eventually become hate, and as we have seen, hate leads to death, be it your own, or someone else's.
So what about God's hate? His hatred for sin, for evil. What does that lead to?
I have many Scriptures that I could share, but I will show only a few.
Jeremiah 44:4, the context here is that God's people have again rebelled against Him, returning to their idolatry and evil. God speaks thus: "Yet I persistently sent to you all my servants the prophets saying 'Oh do not do this abomination that I hate!'"
So God hates the abomination, that is, (in this context) the idolatry of His chosen people Israel.
Zechariah 8:17 "Do not devise evil in your hearts against one another, and love no false oath, for all these things I hate."
So again, God hates dishonesty and plotting of evil against another.
Here is where I will use another term, that is, Wrath... The wrath of God against our sin. Romans 1:18 "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth."
Here it is more broadly, and here we see the same vein of thought, the same truth in all three passages.
God hates evil... I will say it again, GOD HATES EVIL.
And we ourselves are evil creatures, born into sin, growing to love it, and to hate God. Ah! There is that word again, but it is directed against God this time. As we were before, in our unregenerate states, we hated God, we were at odds with Him. Indeed, we were His enemies, and wanted to be thus, thinking in our sin that we knew the better way.
But we didn't. The only way we knew, was the way to Death and hell. We were under God's divine, holy, righteous, and perfect wrath and hatred of our sin, and we were destined because of it to be tossed into eternal torment when our sinful lives ended, and nothing we could do could save us...
Until Jesus came. For as you well know, He bore our curse, the wrath of His own Father against our sin upon Himself, that we might be reconciled to God in grace, by the blood of His cross.
You know Christian, that He was hated for our sakes? God treated Him as though He had lived our sinful, idolatrous lives, though Christ Himself was completely innocent of any sin. And in return in the mystery of His divine mercy treated us as though we had lived Jesus' sinless, perfect life.
Listen closely... Isaiah 53:3-5 "He [that is, Jesus] was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised, and we esteemed Him not. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken. smitten by God and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His wounds we are healed."
So there you have it. Jesus bore the holy wrath of God that we would not have to, and through His blood we are no longer enemies of God, but beloved sons and daughters.
Psalm 30:4-5 "Sing praises to the LORD, O you His saints, and give thanks to His holy name. For His anger is for but a moment , and His favor for a lifetime."
Praise Jesus that He has forever won the favor and assuaged the wrath of God the Father!
But now we become more practical, for for the time being we are still sinful at heart, and we will be until Christ returns. So what then do we do when anger, bitterness, or hate rear their ugly heads?
I shall show you a more excellent way!
There are two instances of anger (wrath, hate) a Christian must fight daily. The deadly sin in one's own heart, and the anger or hate of those around you.
First, how do we deal with anger in our own hearts? Proverbs 16:32 "Whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city."
It is a daunting task to take control of one's own heart, one's own spirit where this sinful emotion will grow. Indeed it is an impossible task with The Holy Spirit, who not only intercedes for us with God, but helps us become more like Jesus. This is an intense spiritual warfare, and one we must take very seriously.
We may think that a bit of anger in the heart is okay, but here is what Jesus says: Matthew 5:21-24 "You have heard it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgement.' But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgement; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says 'You fool!' will be liable to the hell of fire. So if you are offering your gift at the alter and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift at the alter and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift."
We see two things here, first, that In God's eyes, any bit of anger against another is sin, indeed, liable to the same judgement as a murderer. and second, we see that one of the things we must do to fight the sin of anger in our lives is to seek reconciliation quickly. Indeed another passage that says thus: Ephesians 4:26-27 "Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil."
Your enemy will use any chink in your armor to cause you to sin, to fall. A little bit of anger that you allow to stay in your heart is like a giant gate to the devil, and you can be deadly sure that he will exploit it.
Give him no opportunity Christian! Be reconciled quickly!
The second way we must fight anger in our hearts is this: We must put off all of our former works of darkness, and replace them with God's works, His fruit, His Way.
Galatians 5:19-24 "Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires."
The second instance of anger and hatred we must deal with living for Christ is the hatred and anger of others...
How do we deal with this? The Proverbs tell us: Proverbs 14:29 "Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a hasty temper exalts folly."
And again in Proverbs 15:1 "A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh words stirs up strife."
And once more in Proverbs 19:11 "Good sense makes slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook an offense."
So how do we deal with anger or hate in the hearts of those around us? The simple answer is this: we must be slow to get angry ourselves in response to others' anger and we must be quick to forgive, regardless of whether reconciliation is attained.
Romans 12:17-21 says this: "Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, 'Vengeance is Mine, I will repay, says the Lord.' To the contrary, if your enemy is hungry, feed him, if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good."
There is nothing that someone else does to you that warrants you to lash out in revenge. Are you perfect? Can you say that your are completely righteous and without sin? Can you do something to repay injustice that God cannot do? I think not my friends! Patience in the lieu of another's anger in essential, for God will repay every injustice in the end.
And finally... I saved this one for last, because this is the most powerful way you can fight against hatred, both inside and out.
Put on Love... 1 Corinthians 13:7 says this: "Love is patient and kind; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."
SO the next time you are tempted to anger, or the hate, or bitterness, or resentment, or annoyance, or irritability, remember these things that I have brought forth from the Word of God. It is my authority, and my joy. May God bless my writing, and may He abundantly bless you through it. This is my prayer.
Anger gives way to Peace,
--The Scribe.
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