Sinful Nature - Hatred. Galatians 5:20

Father of Forgiveness and Mercy,

Your teachings throughout your word are clear. We have been forgiven, therefore we must forgive. We have been shown mercy, therefore we must be merciful, we have been given grace, therefore we must show grace. But my observation of true hate is that it rises above the level of mere unforgivness. It seems to become an obsession, an addiction. Whether it is hatred toward an ethnic group or hatred toward another culture, or hatred toward another faith or hatred toward people who hold another political view or hatred toward those who hold another view of morality, the person holding such hatred becomes absorbed in it. It dominates their thinking and it becomes the epicenter of a behavior that spreads out to general intolerance of any who are different or think differently. And the hatred is personal toward an individual or groups of individuals.

I pray that these children understand that you do hate behavior, but you do not hate people. There is behavior that we should hate, but our emotion should never carry over to the individuals involved in that behavior. And even in hating behavior, because we are not you and we do not have the ability to so clearly distinguish between behavior and people, we need to be sparing in behavior we choose to hate. Too easily can we cross that boundary and begin hating those who practice the behavior.

While these children hate oppression and defend the oppressed, may they also have pity on the oppressor for what lays in store for them at your judgment if they do not repent. May they understand that those in other cultures (but for the leaders) are rarely in control of their surroundings and are merely following leadership and the teaching they have received - and even the leaders are products of their own upbringing. May they understand that political views are not so black and white as to merit hatred.

I pray that these children err on the side of mercy, compassion and understanding, that they hate behavior, not people, and that they even hate behavior sparingly.


Amen