Whom Then Can I Hate?

by HJS

On a flight home from a former Soviet country, I was seated across the aisle from a mother with a child who was about four years old. I love kids, and a couple times on the flight, I poked my head inside my newspaper, playing peek-a-boo with the child who laughed each time. No words were spoken. I only smiled and made the child smile.

When the plane landed and the passengers were waiting for their baggage, the child, seeing me, broke loose from his mother and ran over to give my legs a hug. The mother dashed after the little child, grabbing him, saying in broken English, "This is America. You can't trust people here!"

Who teaches a child to hate? Not God. Jesus, breaking with conventional wisdom and culture said, "But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you" (Luke 6:27).

The legacy of hate that is passed from generation to generation isn't easily broken, but it can be - one child at a time. If you are a parent, ask yourself, "Whom and what do I hate? And why do I hold these feelings? Be completely honest. An important thing to think through if you are a Christian parent is this: What does God hate? Are my likes and dislikes in accord with how He feels?

God hates sin yet He loves the sinner. Our failure is that we often hate the sinner and secretly embrace the sin that is repugnant and wrong in God's sight. Once you have taken inventory of your own failures, ask, "have I taught my child to hate?"

May God forgive us of our prejudices, which feed the fire of hatred from generation to generation.

The king of Israel answered jehoshaphat, "There is still one man whom we can inquire of the Lord, but I hate him because he never prophesies anything good about me, but always bad."  2 CHRONICLES 18:7