What do you do when someone consistently shows you hate? They would not admit it, but you know they must because they can’t ever say anything nice to you. They can’t celebrate your accomplishments in life like retiring early, getting to move back to one’s hometown and buying a house, and not one kind word spoken when you got remarried, finding love again, after years of being divorced.
They find it so difficult to be happy for you. Could it be because they aren’t? Is it jealousy? The weird thing is they seem to find others like them, and it’s as if they start a “HATE YOU” club, or something. They band together, pick you apart as if you were shredded meat being devoured. And the worst part is, if they decide they are right, then even if you were right, you become wrong, because they out number you. Hate, seems to be a sick kind of magnet that attracts others.
Jesus knew this too well. You see the religious rulers of his day hated him, because the people loved him. They were starting to believe in him and his message of love. The Jewish leaders knew they had to act fast and strike a death blow, or lose their status forever. They got a large number of people to believe them, and join their “hate club” against Jesus. Most likely the very people Jesus fed, prayed for, and healed. Yet, on the cross, close to death, Jesus had compassion on them and loved them. In fact he asked his Father to forgive them, for they know not what they do. He showed them love, in the face of hate.
This past weekend, I was sitting in a drive through. I looked in my rear view mirror, and saw one of my haters. My flesh rose up, evil thoughts came to mind. Anger, resentment. Then, love came on the scene and I decided to tell the person at the drive through window I would like to pay for the person’s order who was behind me. I’m not telling you this trying to make you think I am great, but to illustrate one simple way of showing love, in the face of hate, like Jesus did. Although, Jesus didn’t pay for their order, he paid for their life, with his.
Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. John 15:13 (NASB)
I overcame my flesh by repenting of hate in my heart, because I hate how I am treated. It hurts, doesn’t make any sense, but I cannot control them, or their choice on how to live. The only thing that matters is how Jesus sees me. One thing I try to keep in mind is they are living with hurts of their own they never gave to God, and asked him to heal. If you want to close down the “hate clubs” in your life then pray for them, and show love every chance you get.
Copyright © 2019 Mark Brady. All rights reserved.
e him the news that she was dying of cancer. That year Bob’s neighborhood changed the path of their yearly parade, so every neighbor could wave to her as she watched from her living room window. He later asked her if there was one thing she has never done but always wanted to. She replied, “Toilet paper someone’s yard.” So one day at 4:30pm they did just that. When the police showed up and informed him it was a misdemeanor he told them, “I have diplomatic immunity and she will be dead next week.” Bob’s neighbor had heaven touch her just before she touched heaven.
There is this unbelievable feeling when you are in love with someone. You think about them all the time. You can’t wait to see, talk, or be with them again. There is nothing else that feels the same way. This is how I feel about my wife. Ok, I know some of you, who know us, will say, “Yeah, but you two have only been married 7 months!” This may be true, but you see I have purposed in my heart to never fall “out” of love with her. I have this desire to forever find another way, to make her feel loved.
There it is. Another ugly, races, hateful, hurtful word from one I know very well. “I don’t understand,” has been cried out to God many times after one of their zingers comes out of their mouth. “God, why do they still feel, act, and say these things? After all, they go to church!”
Love is not premeditated– it is spontaneous; that is, it bursts forth in extraordinary ways. There is nothing of precise certainty in Paul’s description of love. We cannot predetermine our thoughts and actions by saying, “Now I will never think any evil thoughts, and I will believe everything that Jesus would have me to believe.” No, the characteristic of love is spontaneity. We don’t deliberately set the statements of Jesus before us as our standard, but when His Spirit is having His way with us, we live according to His standard without even realizing it. And when we look back, we are amazed at how unconcerned we have been over our emotions, which is the very evidence that real spontaneous love was there. The nature of everything involved in the life of God in us is only discerned when we have been through it and it is in our past.
God is perfect, but He doesn’t expect it!
I had a friend that once stated she doesn’t want to hear her spouse say, “I love you” every day. Somehow, she feels it cheapens the words. I asked her, “Well, how do you want to know you are loved then?” She replied, “Just knowing someone is thinking about me makes me feel loved.” Yes, the next question I had to ask was, “How do you know you are being thought of if that person doesn’t express it in some form?”
Like clothing, put on love before leaving the house. Others will appreciate it.
I once had a neighbor, who on the way to the hardware mega store asked, “Why are you so different?” I had helped them with several needs after they had moved into their new home. He asked, I told him. The truth appealed to him and his wife, and they accepted Jesus.
brady, mark a. 