The Hater and the Hated

 It is easy to point my finger at the hate-filled white cop who killed an innocent black man. What is not easy, is to look within myself for hatred. Hatred is like that. Everyone can see your hatred but you.

Do not take revenge my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay.” says the Lord. Romans 12:19

There is an old story about a hater named Jonah. For whatever reason, he hated people from Nineveh. We are not told why, but we are told they were evil. I’m sure they must have wronged Jonah or his family or his village. Jonah was told by God to go preach to them so they would turn to God. Jonah refused on the basis that they didn’t deserve the forgiveness and second chance that a loving God would offer them. We are all very familiar with what happens next. Jonah ends up inside a big fish then barfed up on a beach.

I find it interesting that the Lord gives both the people of Nineveh and Jonah a second chance. This is a story of forgiveness for both the hater and the hated. He is the God of second chances. If only we, as Christians, can learn to give second chances to those we have learned to hate.

Jonah went to the city of Nineveh and preached to them to turn to God and they did, saving them from certain destruction. However, Jonah was not happy with this conversion of his enemies. He became angry and complained to the Lord that he knew that this would happen because God is gracious, compassionate, slow to anger and abounding with love. He asked the Lord to take his life rather than to accept this redemption of the people of Nineveh. This is where we can plainly see the problem was more with Jonah than with the evil Ninevites. This prophet that God used to bring the city of Nineveh back to him was eaten up with hate and anger.

His source of hatred was unforgiveness. Hatred can be passed down from generation to generation. Hatred will always find a target. And most often that target is the innocent.  And for Jonah, it was the people of Nineveh. For people in our world today, it may be conservative Republicans, liberal Democrats, Pelosi, Trump, bosses, employees, men, women, blacks, whites or hispanics.  Hate is ugly. I know someone who suffered at the hands of several men throughout her life. Now, deep in her heart, she carries the stench of hatred for all men. She tries to cover it up. But it often lets loose on an innocent male target.  Sadly, it has changed her and made her bitter. Hatred can’t be controlled.  It controls you.  Like cancer, it eats you from the inside out. And like cancer, it is a slow, suffering death. 

First, we have to see the hatred in ourselves. That is the hardest part! Everyone around us can see it but us. Ask God to shine a light on it. He will reveal it to you. How do we get rid of it? Forgiveness. Forgiveness is a choice. Forgiveness doesn’t excuse the wrong that was committed against us. Forgiveness frees us from the chain on our own hearts. The good news is that there is a cure for unforgiveness. I have found that it takes time. The book I have turned to to help me deal with unforgiveness is Forgiveness…the Ultimate Miracle by Paul J. Meyer.  He does a wonderful job of shining a light on how to get out of the grip of hatred. 

Lord, we need your forgiveness. Please lead us to find the unforgiveness in ourselves and turn it over to you.

"Say Hello to my Little Friend"

 Please read this title in an Al Pacino voice. But unlike Al, the little friend I am speaking about is the Holy Spirit. What does this voice or influence of the Holy Spirit sound, look or feel like? It is so mysterious. First, let’s get something straight. The Holy Spirit is not your guilty conscience, guilt in any form, an accusing voice or a judgmental voice. That is the voice of the enemy, the deceiver. Here are a few examples of the voice of the Spirit. 

• Someone popped into your mind that you normally don’t think of daily.
• Reading a scripture you have read many times before, only this time it touched you deeply with conviction or comfort or exactly what you needed.  
• When you had the power to quit a bad habit.
• When you had the power to walk away from temptation.  
• When the right words came out of your mouth in spite of what was in your mind.  
• When you spoke boldly to a close friend, spouse, or family member about what God has done for you.  
• When you did the right thing when no one is watching. 
• When someone thanked you for helping them and you have no idea what you did.
• When you were made aware of God through the eyes of a child, through the devotion of your dog, or through the beauty of a sunset. 
• When the smile you chose to paste on your face found its way deep into your heart and became real.
• When you experienced the satisfaction of a difficult job well done.  
• When your heart was happy. 
• When, out of the blue, you knew the solution to a problem.  
• When you were able to do something that you didn’t remember learning from anyone.
• When you looked back at the tough times in your life and wondered how you ever survived them.  
• A strange comfort when your world was falling apart.
• That hopeful desire of how your response could be more like Christ next time.
• When you saw your bad choices with new eyes and deeply desired to change this. 
• When you finished a job to the end, in the face of opposition.
• When you were deeply convicted to help someone who could never repay you. 

So what does the Bible have to say about the Holy Spirit?  Here are a few key verses that I found. 

John 14:16-21 NIV

[16] And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— [17] the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. [18] I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. [19] Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. [20] On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. [21] Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.” 

Ephesians 3:16-19 NIV

[16] I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, [17] so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, [18] may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, [19] and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Galatians 5:22-23 

[22] But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance (patience with people), kindness, goodness, faithfulness, [23] gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

Hebrews 10:15-16 NIV

[15] The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says: [16] “This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.”

Luke 12:12 NIV

[12] for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say.”

1 Thessalonians 1:5 NIV

[5] because our gospel came to you not simply with words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake.

Luke 10:21 NIV

[21] At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit,…

1 Thessalonians 1:6 NIV

[6] You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit.

So according to the above verses, the Holy Spirit is our advocate, speaks truth to us, is our guardian, helps us understand God, gives us love, joy, peace, patience with people, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, puts the laws in our hearts and minds, teaches us, is a source of power, and fills us with joy. Who wants that? 🙋🏻‍♀️ This is the greatest gift imaginable and if you are a follower of Christ, you have been given this gift. 

The Missing Adversary

Watching Dana Carvey as The Church Lady on Saturday Night Live, I laughed at the little old lady that saw Satan around every corner exclaiming in a whining, nasal tone, “Could it be...Satan?” Like most of the audience, I believed Satan was only a funny, little ineffectual bad spirit. Due to my upbringing, I never denied that he was real. My upbringing was grounded in the Bible enough to admit that there was an adversary.  But it also minimized this to the point that he was only spoken of in jokes.  

Satan goes by many names. The Devil, the Adversary, the Enemy, the Darkness, the Author of Lies, and the Deceiver are just a few. The first time I realized that the enemy wasn’t just a little voice sitting on my shoulder giving me bad suggestions, I was relieved.  I was relieved that he was so much more evil, powerful and active in the world and my life than what I once thought. Why on earth would this be a relief? Wouldn’t this be scary? Isn’t the reason we hesitate to tell children much about Satan, because we don’t want to scare the poor little guys?  

This world IS an evil and scary place.  It is immediately obvious from our first peek at the cold cruel world from outside our mother’s womb. So from the beginning of our lives, we already know the pain of evil, the heartbreak that happens when a loved one leaves, the feeling of hunger, and the difficulty of getting along with others. But we don’t know the explanation for it. For me, it is much more comforting to understand where something bad is coming from. If the monster is under the bed, at least I don’t have to worry about that closet! When evil goes unexplained it looms larger than life causing even more fear. If there is no source of evil at work in this world, so many things can’t be explained or are blamed wrongly on a blameless God. (The later is a pet peeve of mine.) So understanding the enemy helps me understand the source of constant tension in this world. 

Ephesians 6:11-12 [NIV] Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

This passage confirms that we live in a dark and spiritual world. In fact, the correct perspective is that we are spiritual beings caught in a natural world full of evil. It also confirms that the source of evil is the opposition to God.  But if God is all-powerful, why doesn’t he kick that bad angel down to where he belongs? I know the following explanation is oversimplified and full of holes but here is my answer to this question.

As a girl growing up in the 1960’s, I played with dolls non-stop. But I can remember that as much as I loved controlling the lives of those dolls, I would have given anything if they would have, just once, had a voice and choice of their own. How great would it have been if just once my Barbie would have complained about her outfit I selected for her? However, I would drop those dolls in a heartbeat to play with a real baby that I didn’t control and manipulate, one that could choose to love me. 

This, to me, is the best way to explain why God let his created humans have a voice and a choice. Isn’t having a choice the very definition of freedom? If our choices are removed, we become enslaved. Freedom was God’s gift to us. He created us, the objects of His intense love, and allowed us to choose. The funny thing is, if there was no bad verses God’s good, there was no choice and no freedom. Couldn’t he just have given us a choice like vanilla vs. chocolate? First of all, vanilla and chocolate are both from God so that is not a legit choice. The only choice God could give us is to choose his light vs. darkness because darkness is the world without God’s light. Just let that sink in a minute! God gave us a voice and a choice because He wanted to be chosen and truly loved and not just obeyed like a mindless robot. 

And what did we choose? Right out of the box, the first humans chose the lies of evil. Humans chose to keep this adversary around and we continue to make this choice daily. Humans were created by God for God, but chose to listen to the enemy because we were free to do so. When we see a beautiful sunset, a perfect newborn baby or feel the hug of a loving friend, that is authored by God. When we see COVID-19, when we feel rejected, when we deal with cancer and death, that is the temporary evil of this world. 

The good news is that God didn’t leave us stuck with our choices and no way out. God is a God of second chances. He created a path out of this evil world and sent messengers to point the way. It is a simple choice but involves admitting our helplessness, letting go of our sinful ways and pursuing Him. Someday, for those of us who chose this path, the enemy with all the pain, suffering, disease and death, will be defeated. But until then, I will continue daily to choose God...

2 Timothy 1:12 [NIV] because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day.

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