Do You Really Know that Hate Costs?

Just as a corrosive acid starts biting its own container first, the same way, a heart that holds hatred inside will be affected herself firstly by this corrosive acid named hate. It is like drinking alcohol… you don’t realize what you’re doing when hate pushes you to action: it makes you look like a fool and when you awake from your folly, you are embarrassed of what you’ve done.

"Hatred makes the straight crooked" a Hebrew proverb says and it is indeed so. Even if you think your judgment is a clear one, it is impossible to clearly and rightly judge when your eyes of understanding are blinded by hate. You don’t do the right thing, but act according to the glasses of hate you’ve let on your eyes. It is worse that many times we don’t even realize they are on our eyes.

Let’s see together what God thinks about hate.

1.Should you hate your enemy? Although this seems normal and it is normal at first glance, God has another advice when it comes to treating those people who hate you:

"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor, and hate your enemy. But I tell you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you." Matthew 5:43-44

"Blessed are you when men shall hate you, and when they shall exclude and mock you, and throw out your name as evil, for the Son of Man's sake." Luke 6:22

"But I tell you who hear: love your enemies, do good to those who hate you" Luke 6:27

2. Hate will also be present in the last days even among Christians or should I say, among those who pretend to be Christians or are Christians only with the name and not with their hearts. Jesus warned us: "Then many will stumble, and will deliver up one another, and will hate one another." Matthew 24:10

It is better to be persecuted then to be a persecutor yourself, the consequences of hate are very serious and we need to really check our hearts to see if there are signs of this dreadful disease. The following verses will help you get a clear diagnosis:

"But he who hates his brother is in the darkness, and walks in the darkness, and doesn't know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes." 1 John 2:11

"Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life remaining in him." 1 John 3:15
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If a man says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who doesn't love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?"1 John 4:20

So if you hate your brother in Christ…you do not really love God. This can occur because of different reasons that can be very realistic, but regardless of what our brother has done to us, we should not hate, we should love him instead. I don’t mean loving what he did or does, but love him for what he is, not for what he does. He is obviously blinded so we should not think we are better just because we are not in his shoes, we have grace from God that’s all, we are not any better, we also have our sins. With love and patience shown to your brother, he has a real chance to be rehabilitated and he will come to the conclusion that you were indeed on God’s side.

3. But why is this hate present, why did/does the world hate Jesus in the first place? His answer is this: "The world … hates me, because I testify about it, that its works are evil." John 7:7

The world also hates Christians: "Don't be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you." 1John 3:13

But hating God’s wisdom and love towards us equals to a death sentence: "But he who sins against me wrongs his own soul. All those who hate me love death." Proverbs 8:36

To conclude with, I’ll say that hate is not an ingredient you want to mix in any of your deeds. It is poison for yourself first of all, and in the end it only brigs a false glory which has death as consequence. May God help us all stay away from hating our brothers and may we hate instead what God hates. "The fear of Yahweh is to hate evil. I hate pride, arrogance, the evil way, and the perverse mouth." Proverbs 8:13

Love your enemies, brothers and neighbors and hate pride, arrogance and evil of any kind. When you see these in your friends try to make a clear distinction between the person and his acts. Love the person but stand for what is right and if you see he does evil, hate that evil but again, not the person itself.