Okay, I don't really hate people, but I do hate the way some people are. There was a time in my life when I did hate people...at least I thought I did. It was the sin, pride and selfishness of people that I was hating, not the people themselves. I learned as a new Christian that I was supposed to love the sinner, but hate the sin. I found out the hard way that it isn't that easy. It is very easy to hate the sinners because of their sins. It is normal for the carnal flesh to hate those who hurt us. However, God wants us to be spiritually-minded. Jesus taught that we should love our enemies...
"But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;" -Matthew 5:44
How many Christians do you know who love their enemies? I don't know many. Let's face it, most believers are carnal and live like the heathen. I don't hate people, I hate sin. God hates sin. We are supposed to be holy as God is Holy.
"Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy." -1st Peter 1:16
What does it mean to be holy? It means to be like God. It means moral and ethical wholeness or perfection; freedom from moral evil. God wants us to be upright in our ways, righteous! It is difficult to live for the Lord when people all around us are living in sin. While we're at church on Sunday nights, they're at the ball game or at home watching TV. While we're trying to obey the Bible, they're enjoying the pleasures of sin. I heard a Christian once say that it is easy to live right if you love Jesus. However, that is not true...the loving Apostle Paul himself had a hard time living right (Romans 7:15). The flesh is carnal, weak and prone to selfishness. It is only by the Spirit of God that we can live a righteous life for God. The Christian life is like shoveling sand...there is nothing complicated about it, but it is HARD WORK. You have to continually be on guard against sin and the devil creeping into your life.
I don't hate people. Now that I'm older in the Lord, I realize that people are sinners at best. It's the sin that I hate. I hate theft. I hate scams. I hate illegal drugs. I hate alcohol. I hate abortion. I hate the feminist movement. I hate injustice. I hate communism. I hate fake Bibles. I hate false religions. I hate imposters. I hate lying. I hate pride. I hate arrogance. I hate gossip. I hate pornography. I hate gambling. I hate corruption in The White House. I hate hands that shed innocent blood. By the way, God hates sin to...
"These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren." -Proverb 6:16-19
God loves people, but He HATES their sins. God was willing to send His only begotten Son to die upon a cross for our sins.
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." -John 3:16
God loved us sinners enough to come to this cruel world incarnate, to be rejected, spit upon, beaten, mocked, despised, and eventually crucified. What a Saviour!!!
I know you don't hate people either, though you may sometimes think you do. You hate the sin and selfishness that causes people to be so mean and heartless.
"Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God." -Galatians 5:19-21
There's is nothing any worse you could say about people, than what the Bible hasn't already said. The Bible has nothing good to say about humanity. God describes us as rotten-to-the-core sinners.
"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" -Jeremiah 17:9
We have a tendency to call people names in our mind. "That guy is an %$^&#*!" "She is such a %#&$*%^!" What we need to do is to think in Scriptural terms. That man is a sinner! She is such a sinner! I am such a sinner! You are a sinner. We are sinners folks, that is our great problem! By placing people into a Biblical perspective, it helps us to love people rather than hate them. If we focus on the sin, we will hate the sinner. If we focus on the sinner, we will be understanding and pray for them.
Those who don't live right on purpose WILL live wrong. The Christian life is no accident! I would rather fail at succeeding, than succeed at failing. Most people don't care.
What the world needs is Jesus. I was recently out going door-to-door witnessing with my son. A man came to the door and started cursing us and God when he heard we we're from the church. He slammed the door in our faces. I took a little piece of paper and wrote a brief note to the man.
I wrote, "I know how you feel because I've been there myself. I know you don't hate God, you're just hurting. We would love for you to visit us."
I placed it with a gospel of John and a tract from our church on his doorstep. Then I prayed for the man. I don't know if it made difference, but you never know what God may be doing in someone's heart. I don't throw people away. We should look at people as broken instead of bad. If something valuable breaks (such as an automobile), we fix it instead of throwing it away. People are worth a lot.
I just thought of something that has absolutely nothing to do with what I'm talking about but I've got to share it with you anyway. I read recently about a global black market for human body parts. The human body is worth about $250,000 on the black market if you sell the parts individually. Can you imagine? China is known for harvesting body parts from it's prisoners which have been executed. Recently, China has introduced "death vans" that wait outside the courthouses and executes people right after they're sentenced to death. Within hours, the victim is killed and surgically dismembered for shipment around the world. Truth surely is stranger than fiction. The scary part is that the same thing is happening in the United States. Aborted babies are dismembered and sold on the market for big bucks. A babies spinal cord is worth about $850. Sick is right! Check into the matter, you'll be shocked.
Returning to our article, people are worth a lot in the eyes of God. God doesn't create junk my friend. You may not like yourself, your disabilities or your lack of good looks...but God loves you and thought you were special enough to create. Remember that only God can give life (Acts 17:25)! Jesus Christ giveth to all, life and breath. God loves you and so do I. I only created this article to get your attention. I do hate the sinfulness of people, but it is the sin and NOT the people. I do NOT hate anyone, not even the devil. I know the devil is evil through and through, but I cannot hate anyone. By the way, there is nothing in the Bible which tells me I should hate Satan. I do not pray for Satan because I know He is doomed to the lake of fire as the Bible prophecies. But I do not hate him. I do pray for people though because as long as you're still alive upon the earth, you have a chance to get saved and go to heaven when you die. If you don't get saved, you will die in your sins...you will burn in hell. It will be your own fault.
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