I had a conversation with friends, while out to dinner. It has left me unsettled.
It has to do with hate.
The defintion of hate is “intense animosity or dislike” according to the FreeDictionary.com.
Do you really hate anyone?
Did you know that we are to love everyone, as God loved us? Of course I know this, but wasn’t really listening to the words. LOVE EVERYONE! Hard one!
There are some people that I dislike intensely. Usually it is because they have hurt me… deeply or someone I love.
Then the conversation followed… you don’t have to like them… but you do have to love them.
That has left me off balance. Of course, as I really analyze my feelings toward them, I could fill in words like: feel sorry for; ignorant; pity;
Their actions have caused me to protect my heart.
Yet, as I really have sought to find the answers to whether I really hate anyone… I had to remind myself that Jesus… loves them.
Jesus LOVES them!
Oye! Annoying, isn’t it? But if I expect God to love me in spite of all my errors and shortcomings, then I must reciprocate to others that fall short in my life… mustn’t I?
I know Jesus Loves Me. I feel it as I live and breathe. I know He must so often shake His head and sigh… as He watches me day in and day out mess up.
Yet, He just forgives me. He keeps having faith in me. He believes in ME!
So… it has come to me through the wiseness of my friends that I love everyone.
There will be no stringing up these annoying people and poking them with sharp objects!
(Ok…. this is an inside voice coming out… but when I was in high school and felt so alone… I would imagine stringing certain people up… and hurting them… so they understood how much they hurt me. Guess this has followed me into the adult world…)
If I am loving them, then I must forgive them. I know, I don’t have to like them.
But since I am going to love them… I better look for the good in them.
Love thy neighbour as thy self.
Oh, Fine!