Hatred

I have come to notice that as our American society becomes more aware and concerned with social justice, we are developing hate within our hearts. We like to extend love to those who are being oppressed and act like we are holistically bettering this world, but I don't think we are accomplishing what we are boasting.

I see this country hating itself. As we watch the world deteriorate, we are also watching our own country fall apart, but we are not innocent. We hate our government. We hate our leaders. We hate our teachers. We hate and hate yet we put on the front of love and acceptance. We hate those who are wicked. We hate those who go against our beliefs. We hate those who challenge our beliefs. We hate the ignorant. We hate truth-tellers. We simply hate and if you tell me that I am not following Christ's example, then I hate you. I don't evaluate myself to see if I stand on Scripture, I evaluate my irrational feelings and see whether or not you have the right to say such things.

We sure cover it up well, though. If we are concerned about the downtrodden and destitute, then we are displaying true love, right? No, not entirely. We are not loving to the extent that Christ has called us to love. We are supposed to pray for those who persecute us and love our enemies (Matthew 5:44). We are told obey those in authority if they are not telling us to break God's law (Romans 13:1-3 // Acts 4:19-20). No matter what we think of the government, we are not to hate those in position of authority. We are not to hate anyone for any reason. Even if a person molests our children or executes the innocent by the thousands, we have no grounds to hate. We are to be firm in our beliefs and defend them with passion, but we are not to detest those who are against us.

Hebrews 12:9 "Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good"

We must examine our lives so that we are not displacing our hatred from our brothers to our enemies who laugh in our face. We must look inside our hearts to see if we are simply loving what is popular to love and hating what is popular to hate. If this be the case, then we don't know love as He is. We are to love in such a way that the world is shocked. This subtle hatred within us is going to manifest one day into a horribly ugly beast and we will plead ignorance in the light that we were sending money to Africa.