Tuesday, June 7, 2016

Why is hate so easy?

Why is it so easy to hate?

Take a stroll through Facebook and you'd think that hate is our national pastime, not baseball. Our political system thrives on hate.  Candidates aren't trying to convince you to like them, they're trying to get you to hate the other person more than you hate them.

The only person people seem to be uniting together to not hate is the Chewbacca mask lady.  I mean, for real, how cute is she?! But I'm sure there's someone out there pecking out a blog post about how awful she is.

Sadly, this is not a new phenomena. We like to think it is. We lament that our country is 'going to hell in a handbasket'.  I personally have called it the TMZ-ing of America.  But it's not new.

Jesus' crucifixion was driven by hate.  The Jewish leaders hated that He claimed to be the Messiah.  He didn't fit their expectation of what a Messiah should be.  Immediately after His death, the apostles were so fearful of that hate that they huddled up together.  It was only after He appeared to them and they received the Holy Spirt to help them did they become bold.

That didn't stop the hate.  Stephan was martyred because of that same hate.

But still, the question remains, why is hate so easy?

It seems like a lot of mental energy to hate someone or something.  You have to keep thinking about it.  You have to keep coming up with reasons that you and that person or things are at odds with one another.

Love seems so easy.  But it requires a lot of us.  It requires us to see the other person as God sees them.  It requires us to look past our differences and see our similarities.  Love requires that we remember that not only have I sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and been forgiven but so has the other person.

One of the verses my Grandpa Mays wanted read at his funeral was "Blessed are the peacemakers; for they will be called children of God." Matthew 5:9.  I think Grandpa wanted to remind us to be at peace with one another.

Love is hard. It does require a lot from us.  Thankfully, we have a Savior who set a wonderful example of love for us.  That's what we'll explore in the next 2 blog posts: What does love require? Use the button on the left to subscribe so you don't miss a post!

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