Loving Our EnemiesSample

It’s strange how we can so easily imagine and profess we are walking in the light and love of God and still have hatred alive and active, yet veiled and hiding, in our hearts. This creates in us a kind of virtual reality of spirituality. Hate is often camouflaged and denied because it has both hot and cool forms. The hot form of hate is more obvious. However, we tend to refer to hatred we harbor by other, less intense, words ... having an issue, a problem, a difficulty, a dislike ... for a person or an entire group of people. The latter is the seedbed for the evil of racism.

Cool hate is dismissive of people ... more like indifference. We simply turn off our relational mode and calmly dismiss someone. The apostle of love, John the beloved, didn’t mince words as he expertly diagnosed hatred for others as the simple absence of sacrificial love for them. 

Ask God to bring to mind a person you may have dismissed or disregarded, either overtly or subtly. Ask Him if He wants you to reach out to this person in some way. Who knows where this may lead?