Hate

This is a strong word in the English language. I really dislike this word and I don’t like to use it in regard to people. I believe it is opposite of love. There are times that God “hates”, but His hate is directed at behavior and not people. I learned at a very early age that hate and hatred are not good character qualities to keep in my life. Hate is closely related to bitterness and jealousy. These are two unsettled emotions that left to run their course in my heart, they will destroy me from the inside out. These negative emotions are like a cancer in my soul and they are always up to “no good”.

Josephs brothers were very jealous because Dad (Jacob) played favorites. This is an example of what jealousy and hatred can create. They were also jealous because at age 17 he was having weird dreams that implied that they would one-day bow down to him. That just poured “fuel on the fire” of their hatred. Check this out…

3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made an ornate robe for him. 4 When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him. (Genesis 37:3-4 NIV)

The other brothers end up plotting to kill him when he came to check on them. A couple of the brothers floated some other ideas other than murder and they ended up selling him into a life of slavery and then telling their Dad that a wild animal had killed him. This story underscores for me the extreme dangers of hatred and how irrational and illogical it can me.

I want to continue my dislike for this word and all the trappings it has with it. I don’t want my heart to self-destruct from the inside out. I will work through the emotions of jealousy and I will lay down bitterness so that they don’t turn into hate.

Pressing On!

Dwayne