Blind Yet Don’t Know It

There was a time in my life that I hated several people. They had hurt my family and me very much. I could not forgive them, and the hate in my heart grew until it almost destroyed me. That’s what hate does; it destroys. This is sad, especially when people who claim to be followers of Christ are consumed with hate. How can this be if Jesus is in us? Jesus never hated. He never taught that it is alright to hate. He even said, “Love your enemies.” There are many who not only despise and hate their enemies, but they hate members of their own family. They hate people they work with. A Christian cannot hate anyone.

Jesus is our light and we are to follow the Light. John said, “Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or a sister is still in the darkness...But anyone who hates a brother or a sister is in the darkness. They do not know where they are going because the darkness has blinded them. 1 John 2:9,11

John was as close to Jesus as anyone. He saw Jesus in ways no one else saw him. According to John if we allow hate to guide us in our relationships with others we are traveling in darkness, and we cannot know where our journey is taking us. There are many today that say they are followers of Jesus, and they think they are on the path to heaven. They do a lot of good things for those they love, but their hearts are filled with hate for others. They think the good they do will save them, perhaps negate their hate. But the truth is they do not have the light of Jesus in them. They are in darkness are have no idea where they are going. These will be in the group that will say to Jesus when he returns, ”Lord, Lord...didn’t we do might works in your name?” But Jesus will say to them, “I never knew you. Depart from me, you  workers of lawlessness.” To hate others is a lawless act according to Jesus. To hate is to break the rules of our Sovereign God who demanded that we love him and love other..

I know people who haven’t spoke to a sibling for years. They have so much hate for one another that they will have nothing to do with each other. What do you think Jesus would say about that? It was love that took Jesus down the road to the cross. The reason he died on that cross was because of his love for you and for me. All he asks from us is to love him and to love one another. Is that too much to ask from us in order to receive eternal life. Think about this!