Hated and Haters

**You may want to read the first few paragraphs at a fast pace, otherwise you may get bogged down in all of the weirdness! It is written somewhat "tongue in cheek"**


“The real reason people hate others is because it makes them feel better about themselves. If you can put down an entire group of people in your mind then it raises your own level of self esteem.”
      After a recent discussion about "hating" and "haters", I found this quote and if we lived in a world that was just physical and mental this statement would most likely resonate true. But we are “spirits” that live with physical bodies, therefore we need to realize that nothing is done just on a "physical" level.
     In the United States recently it has become popular to point fingers at people that have different standards than the ones we want to promote, and say they are "haters". We even have laws against "hate crimes". It is interesting that our leaders believe that making a law against something does away with the problem! However from what I see it only creates a group of people that claim the protection of being “hated” and another group that is the accused “hating” lawbreaker. Actually this does nothing to resolve the problem or to alleviate the emotions that are raised in these situations.
     It is interesting that people that aren't even involved in the "hated or hating" are quick to jump into the fray causing more “hatred” when all “hating” is supposed to be illegal?! Now we end up with 3 groups in a crime that is supposed to have been made illegal! We have “haters”, the “hated” and the new “haters” that “hate” the "original haters"!
      What a complicated mess! But add to that the group that is being accused of “hating” is a religious group that has been commanded to “love” and they have now become the second "hated" victim! What is interesting is that there are other religious groups, that are much less tolerant and do truly “hate”, than the selected new "hated" group in their views of the first "hated" victim, yet they are not even mentioned by the new second group of “haters”? There is a lot of “hate” happening, some true, some just by accusation, but do you think maybe there is an ulterior motive here? The plot thickens!
     Another interesting point is that even though in the masses of confused Americans I know many people in the first accused “hater” group that are accused of being the first suspected “haters”, yet I don't know of any people that have perpetrated the actual accused crime of "hating"! The fact that there isn't evidence of who really is “hating” and/or who they are “hating” seems to have little effect whether the accusation is true or not, but it is simply accepted as fact.
     Much to my surprise simply believing in my Savior, Jesus Christ and attempting to live my life in the manner that He has prescribed has put me in a class of "hated" and accused as a “hater”! I have now become part of a group that is "hated", because others that claim the same affiliation with my religious beliefs are accused of "hating". But wait, isn't “hating” illegal?! =)
     Recently I wrote about the parallel lives of spiritual and flesh, I see this portrayed in this whole previously described situation of “hating and hated” quite literally! Consider this on a spiritual level, we do have an enemy that walks about like a "roaring lion" seeking whom he may "devour". Our enemy loves to stir up hatred, to kill, steal and destroy, and in doing so he is able to throw hindrances in the Christian's walk(battle) by either causing us to be accused "haters" or the "hated" thus distracting us from our real battle. As he is able to distract us, or have us sidetracked from the spiritual battle, our real purpose of being Jesus to the world gets lost in the shuffle! (I have to smile here because our enemy has not yet learned through all of the years since the Garden of Eden, that God's people turn to God even more so when they are under attack and become even stronger as they are persecuted by the hatred of the world.)
     Christians are commanded to love their enemies, and yes, that is not always an easy thing to do (As a Christian, I can tell you that my spirit is in a continual battle to bring my flesh under the obedience of following my Savior’s instructions to love even an enemy! Sometimes it's even a challenge to love “loveable” people!), and because Christians are not yet completely evolved to the level that we are supposed to eventually reach, we as an unfinished group are "hated" and misunderstood.
      Let me encourage you, beloved, do not let yourself be caught in the group of “haters”! If there are fellow christians out there that "hate" anyone, I encourage you, examine your heart! Jesus has commanded "love your neighbor", this is not always easy to do, but Jesus also said to pick up your cross and follow Him(another challenge, but instruction for our lives, nonetheless). He doesn't just give easy assignments, He gives assignments that lead you in growing spiritually, and in your "spiritual" life. As you learn to bring your physical life captive to Him you have "life" and you begin to reflect His love and nature. That is what the world is looking for and needing to see!
     Consider there are many levels of Christians, just as children in elementary school are not expected to have the same knowledge, education and maturity as a high school student we can not expect all Christians to have the same level of spiritual walk either. Alas the world does not understand this(and neither do many Christians as they judge each other), to them there is no difference between one Christian and another. We need to reach out to our less mature believers and encourage them in the understanding and growth, for our own sake and for the sake of Jesus who they are supposed to learn to reflect. We need to strive on in our own growth, encourage our brothers and love the world, be a light to it!
     Beloved, do not be discouraged, Jesus' own words were “If the world hates you, understand that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own. However, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of it, the world hates you.” John 15:18-19 (HCSB) Even though He was hated by the world, He came because He loved and to be love, be the love that our Saviour would have us to be, let your light shine to the world that may not understand you and may even hate you. Remember we are to reflect Him.

~Lorna Mercer






**Interesting side note ~We are currently preparing to celebrate Jesus' birth. The time of year set aside to celebrate His entrance into the world as He did the most loving thing possible, He came to Earth to be born and then die for us, and now the world is busy trying to remove Him from the season and even change the wording from Merry Christmas to Happy Holidays to eliminate Him from the politically correct "non-hating" vocabulary of Americans, and He and His followers are still at the center of controversy over 2000 years after His death and Resurrection because some of His followers are accused of “hating”!Kind of boggles the mind, doesn't it?**