I asked myself this morning what hate produces. I wanted to say nothing, but before I could, I thought about how God addresses hate. 

Someone wrongs us, and we crave justice. Someone breaks our heart, and we want them to feel the same pain. Someone deceives us, and we wonder what punishment is coming their way. We choose to hate the people who hurt us. 

But when we choose hate over love, we begin to sow undesirable traits. We begin to see bitterness, wrathful anger, and a dead spirit. Those are not the ways God wants us to live our life. 

It’s a hard choice to forgive someone and love someone. But the same God that died for you and what you’ve done also died to save the person who wronged you and loves that person too. Maybe it’s an issue of humility or a constant pain that’s holding you back, but I challenge you to pray over the hate you hold in your heart. Choose to love the way Jesus did. 

“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked” -Matthew 6:32-35

“Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness, he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him.” -1 John 2:9-11