I Love God But I Hate You!

If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. 1 John 4:20

“I’m a Christian, but I hate Muslims! I hate gays! I hate fat people! I hate Republicans, Democrats, Independents, liberals, conservatives…”  Have you heard—or said—something like this: “I love God, but I hate_____?” In our minds, such thinking makes sense. After all, God is perfect and easy to love. People, not so much. Some people seem to deserve our hatred by the way they treat us or the things they stand for. But God clamps down pretty hard on that kind of attitude, even going so far as to say that if we claim to love Him but we hate other people, then we are liars. Liars? Isn’t that kind of harsh?

What we forget is that every human being—even those who belong to groups we shun—is a unique creation designed by God Himself to reflect His glory in a way that no one else can. C. S. Lewis explains it this way: “There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal...remember that the dullest most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship…” To truly love God is to love what He loves and hate what He hates. He hates sin, but He loves people, so we must follow suit. We learn to love God by seeing His reflection in even those hard-to-love individuals. We love a God we cannot see by loving the people we can see.

Do you hold on to prejudice and hatred toward someone while claiming to love God? You can’t do both.

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Love the Haters

 "If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you?”  Luke 6:32

Westboro. ISIS. Those names represent everything we hate: Bigotry. Extremism. Self-righteousness. We feel justified in hating them; it’s hard not to. But they give us a great opportunity to practice what Jesus taught about loving our enemies. Compared to them, even the most annoying people in our lives seem loveable. Love does not mean we condone their actions. But it means that we desire God’s best in their lives, and are willing to help that happen. Uncommon love means we love people who don’t deserve it, who may never love us back. Jesus wants us to love Westboro. ISIS. Political opposites. Even ex-spouses. 

So why does Jesus require such a difficult thing? The answer is simple: because we can’t do it alone. No way can we love a black-hooded executioner beheading a missionary. It’s not in us, and that’s what Jesus wants us to recognize. It is supernatural to love people like that; our human love won’t stretch that far. We don’t even want it to. But when Jesus’ followers show that kind of love, the world takes notice. It’s unnatural. It’s unearned. It’s uncommon.

 Anyone can love the lovers, but who loves the haters? We do.

What the World Needs Now

Notice anything odd about this photo?

What makes it odd?

Do you find it strange that a bear would snuggle up with another species? Doesn't seem normal, does it?

The sad thing is that we feel the same way about people.

We automatically choose to love those who are like us, sentencing those we consider different to a lower level of relationship. It can be outside our comfort zone to embrace people who are not in our social, economic, spiritual, or racial realm.

We may give lip service to "loving everyone, regardless" but how often do we really practice it?

• When was the last time you went out of your way to show true love to someone very different from you?

• When was the last time you learned something valuable from someone you initially thought inferior to yourself?

• What about your speech. Do you use derogatory terms for other races or cultures? What about seemingly harmless phrases like "those people?"

The first thing we notice about the above photo is the obvious difference. Our eyes quickly scan the two animals and our brains sound a warning: Incompatible! Separate species! Not right!

But notice how much more the two have in common than they differ: fur, color, region, appetite, and the fact that they are both cold.

We are all human beings. We are all created by God for his purpose and pleasure. We have the same basic needs for love, security, self-worth, and significance. Let's learn to snuggle up a little closer and love each other.

If they can do it in the animal kingdom, then surely we can too.