Haters Gonna Hate

"If someone says, 'I love God,' but hates a fellow believer, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see?"  1 John 4:20

There are many haters in the world.  Some people seem to get their jollies just by hating others, often for no or insignificant reasons.  Proverbs 29:27 tells us, "The good hate the badness of the wicked. The wicked hate the goodness of the good."

It is when the haters claim to be Christ followers and they hate other Christ followers that we must line up the behavior with God's truth and call it what it is:  a lie.

These haters do inflict emotional distress.  Just listen to David's words on the subject in Psalm 69:4, "Those who hate me without cause outnumber the hairs on my head. Many enemies try to destroy me with lies, demanding that I give back what I didn’t steal."

Have you ever felt like that?

Haters tend to hide for awhile, but that doesn't last.  Their true colors eventually show forth, as Scripture tells us in Proverbs 26:24-26, "A man with hate in his heart may sound pleasant enough, but don’t believe him; for he is cursing you in his heart. Though he pretends to be so kind, his hatred will finally come to light for all to see."

When we are hated by the world, may we remember the words of Jesus in John 15:18, "If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first."

And God always sees.  He will have the last word about hate, and about the vastness of His love, too.

Goodnight, Runners.