Responding To Hatred — Sunday Thought For The Day

People filled with hatred ignore two unimpeachable facts: 1) their hatred consumes them and no one else; 2) hatred is not of God and neither is the person who is consumed with hatred. (See: 1 John 2:1-11 KJV)

People consumed by hatred are often driven to blind outbursts of rage, verbalizing the darkness that possesses their souls. From the depths of their misery these persons attempt to have others respond to them in kind to mitigate the guilt and inner pain that consumes them. Often, when their hatred is met with the love of Christ it makes them even angrier, because they, i.e., Satan, was unable to cause the Christian to stumble.

Having viewed my appearance on a national television program, a woman was so consumed by her hatred for law enforcement that she wrote me the following: “I feel that any black person who doesn’t feel that black people aren’t racially profiled is in denial!! I feel you are an Uncle Tom!!! I hope you’re pulled over, one day, by a white police officer, racially profiled, and treated horribly!!!!”

I had a choice; I could be drawn into her hellish misery or I could share Christ. I chose the latter. I responded in part the following: “I have prayed that God will open your eyes unto salvation before you die. I pray in Jesus’ name that He will show you that the anger and animus you felt compelled to shower upon me is not turned back upon you. I pray in Jesus’ name that He shows you that your hatred serves only to separate you from God. I pray in Jesus’ name that He uses your intended insult to open your eyes to your need to accept Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. I pray in Jesus’ name that He shows you the darkness that consumes your spirit and the eternal abyss that awaits you if you continue to practice such hatred. I pray this and more in the name of Jesus, before whom every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess He is Lord. Amen. 1 John 1:8-10 (KJV) … You meant your words for evil but I believe that God is using your attempted insult to give you the opportunity to repent and turn from your hatred. (Genesis 50:20 KJV) Such is my prayer for your.”

The woman did write me back with the anticipated torrent of ugliness, but there was no energy in her response. Just as hurricanes gather strength and energy from the warm air over an ocean, so too would this woman’s evil grow if met in kind. My response served to dissipate her ugliness.

She was forced to read the prayer I responded back to her with and repeat the petition “in Jesus” name.” She will be haunted by my simple written prayer much longer than any words in kind that I could have written to her.

You and I have a choice to make regarding how we respond to insults and the unbalanced tirades of the unsaved. The first thing we must do is take a breath and ask the Lord to direct our response. The next thing is to be obedient to what He leads us to do. In so doing, we may be surprised to one day have a person tell us that they are Christians because we spoke Christ and not hate.

READ:1 Peter 3:9-12 (KJV)
9 Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing.

10 For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile:

11 Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it.

12 For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.