Loving God, Hating Brethren

17 July

If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?

1 John 4:20

John comes out extremely abruptly as he addresses the issue of hatred. No man can say that he loves God when he hates his brother. That man is a liar. If we claim to have the love of God in us, then that love should cross any boundary.

If God could love us so much that He could give us His only Son to die for you and me, and if we claim to have that same love within us, then we should be able to look beyond race, colour, creed, nationality, religion, looks, gender, past hurts and pains, sin, and anything else that brings division. We should be able to practice the love of Christ in our lives.

What I'm saying is that when people speak ill of you and your brothers want to throw you into a pit or your friends betray you or you face persecution and trials or tribulations, look beyond the hatred that you can develop in your heart and show love to everybody.

Proverbs 4 says, "Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life." Guard your heart. Ask yourself, "Have I harboured hatred against somebody?" It might be animosity against parents, siblings, friends, ex-partners who let you down ... do not let that hatred be a stumbling block to your health and, more importantly, in your relationship with Jesus.

What should you do if you have been holding onto hate? Firstly, and as difficult as it is, you need to forgive the person that you feel has wronged you. Next, ask God to forgive you for harbouring hatred in your heart. Once this is done, ask God to remove that root of hatred in your life and ask God to fill that void with His love. Allow His love to saturate your life.

And always hold onto Gods love ... His love is unconditional. He will always give His best even when we wrong Him. Endeavour to live a life saturated in Gods love.