Mensa Otabil - No More Hatred
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1 John 2:1 But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness and does not know where he’s going because the darkness has blinded his eyes. Hatred blinds our eyes; it blinds us to all the good things that God is doing around us. It blinds us to the mercy of God and to the favor of God. And if a Christian walks in the light, he’s in fellowship with God and now sees all the blessings that God has for us.
So one of the ways that we express the love of God and walk in the light with other Christians is in the local church. That’s why we go to church. We go to church, of course, to worship God and to praise Him, but we also go to fellowship with other believers. We don’t just go to church to be by ourselves. Christianity can be lived by yourself, but then you love only yourself; you don’t have the opportunity to express love to anybody else. So if all that your Christianity is, is just you and you alone, you and your God, then you’re not walking in the light. You go to church, you have the opportunity to relate to God and to your fellow believers because our relationship with God is vertical; that means it goes up, it is upward. It is also horizontal; it goes to the side and relates to other people. That’s what Christianity is, and when we relate to people, we express God’s love to them.
When we go to church, there are things we do: we sing, we dance, we worship, we praise, and we hear the Word of God preached. Those are all great, but you also have to be in fellowship with other people, and that is why a Christian must not just live an isolated life. You can hear the Word of God preached, but that is not the end of it; you must fellowship with other Christians to walk in the light, and if you don’t do that, your Christianity is not complete.
So when we go to church, we have the opportunity to practice Christ’s commandment to love, and that’s why you go to church. If you are in a church and you are in a department of the church or in the choir or in some wing of the church, somebody’s going to hurt you sooner or later. Somebody’s going to offend you; you’re going to meet somebody you don’t like. You’re going to meet a person you don’t like or a friend you don’t like who is in church with you. So how are you going to handle it? That is the place where Christ manifests in us, where we show that yes, we are human in the world, but we are God’s people, and we have the capacity to forgive people and to walk in love with them and to be kind towards them and to be generous towards them and to be gracious towards them.
So don’t just practice the words of our Christianity; we must also practice the acts of our Christianity, the things that we do. John is saying when we fail to do that, the enemy blinds our eyes with hatred, and when we’re blinded, we don’t see all the magnificent things God is doing. God can place a blessing in front of you; you wouldn’t see it because you’re blinded by hatred. God, maybe the person you hate is the one God wants to use to bless you. Maybe the thing you don’t like is the thing that God is going to use to touch your heart. So if you allow hatred to blind you, you don’t even see divine opportunities that God is opening for you; you don’t see divine connections that God is placing in your life.
Many of us hate the channels that God wants to use to bless us. We go to church, and even in our weakness, we say, «Lord, I don’t know how to love these people. Help me to do it,» and He will help you so that you can walk in the light and see all the great things that God has for you. May your eyes be opened to the magnificent blessings that God has for you, not only in the coming week but throughout your life. May you experience the divine power of God.
Let us pray. Say with me, «Heavenly Father, thank you for making me a part of your church. Help me to love the brethren as you love them. In Jesus' name, amen and amen.»