Abba, Father, I …

Once in a while i get to hear these types of statements from Christians:

“I really do hate these people” “I cannot stand him/her”

“I can not marry a person who is —-”

Are you born again? Are you a white who hates blacks and other “browns”? Are you a brown who hates “whites” and other not-like-me browns? Are you a Kikuyu who hates Kalenjins, Luos, or others not from your tribe? Are you a Luo who despises other tribes? Do you hate gay people?

Who do you hate?

Does a born again, God loving person have any hating rights?

What it all means.

What does it mean to be born again? Briefly, it means, you are a child of God.

But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: ¹³ who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. ( John 1:12-13, NKJV)

And a being a child of God, in brief , means having the likeness of and character of God;

But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. ⁶ He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked. ( I john 2:5-6)

And foremost, God is love;

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. ( John 3:16 NKJV)

And what He is, you should be:

⁴⁸ Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect. ( Matthew 5:48)

By love all men shall know.

In this world, there is no love for others. Especially others different from you. Most hearts wish that there would be love between husband and wife, neighbor and neighbor, nation and nation. But that is not to be. Increasingly, love for self is winning out, as prophesied in the scriptures.

You should know this, Timothy, that in the last days there will be very difficult times. ² For people will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred. ³ They will be unloving and unforgiving; they will slander others and have no self-control. They will be cruel and hate what is good. ⁴ They will betray their friends, be reckless, be puffed up with pride, and love pleasure rather than God. ⁵ They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. Stay away from people like that! ( 2 Timothy 3:1-6 NLT)

But this bad news for the world is a chance for the Christian to shine forth the good news of the love of God.

One of the greatest witness of the Christian is a show of love, in a world where there is no love;

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. ³⁵ By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” ( John 13:34-35)

And, it is not just love for the brethren. It is a love for all humankind, for after all, your father loves the whole world

For God so loved the world.

Rights

Here are you rights: To hate sin and a sinful way of life.

But this you have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. ( Rev 2:6)

Note that, the deeds of the Nicolaitans and not the Nicolaitans themselves.

Anything you Father hates, that hate. That means, for example, that you should hate the gay lifestyle, but not the gay persons. You should hate abortion, which is murder, but not the poor woman who believed she had no way out but kill her child. Nor should you hate the mistaken, murderous or greedy medical personnel offering abortion services. You should hate lies, but not the lying politician or your neighbor.

Now, i know there are some people you just cannot stand. That is okay, not being able to “stand” some people. There are some people you just do not like. Ah, perhaps that too is okay, not liking some people. But what do you mean “not like” or “cannot stand”? And when do they morph into “hate”? I do not know. And if you are like me and you know the line between “dislike” and hate is so thin, do you really want to take the chance?

What i personally believe is that i do not have the right to dislike other people. Anytime i start to feel dislike towards someone or certain groups of people, because of their deeds, i remind myself of this.

I do not have the rights to dislike anyone.

It always works for me.

I do not know about you. If you are unsure, ask the Lord if He dislikes that person you dislike. If He does, hey go for it.

It is just not possible

If you consider yourself a Christian and hate some people, there are two possibilities:

(i)You are not a christian at all or you have since fallen from grace.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. ( Galatians 5:22-23)

If you do not have the Spirit, my my, how do you hope to love other people, who most of the time are actually unlovable?

You won’t. You cannot. It is impossible. Try as much as you can, you will fail.

The only remedy for this is for you to be born again and have the Spirit in you. The Spirit will create in you a capacity and desire to have the character of God.

(ii) You are born again but are out of character, living in the darkness and in need or realignment.

He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness until now. ( 1 John 2:9)

The most likely cause of this state is that you have stopped listening to the Spirit.

I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

²⁵ If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.( Galatians 5:16)

The remedy for this is simple.

Decide to walk in the Spirit. If you are wondering how to walk in the Spirit in this matter of love, you ask the Lord what you need to do.  ( See examples of how i do it here ).

My friends, it is not possible to “love God” and “hate another person”. Let not your cherished theology or your church’s teaching convince you otherwise.

²⁰ If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? ( 1 John 4:10)

The least you can do is to seek to work it out before it becomes too late.

But if believe you have the Spirit and are listening to Him, and you truly desire to love others, but you find it to be still impossible to do so, check yourself, for it means you have no power to love. And since  that powers is found in the Spirit, it may be that you actually do not have the Spirit.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy,..