Friday, August 21, 2020

Love or Hate

 

DEVOTION

THE 1ST LETTER OF JOHN

LOVE OR HATE

1 John 2:9-11

9 Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. 10 Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble. 11 But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him.

NIV

There is absolutely no wiggle room here at all. The Greek word translated as hate means even a little more than hate as it can be used as detest, or to love less. Now, if we want to see it as love less, that would imply partiality in our love, or that we love some of our brothers more than others. That is what those little cliques are all about. Special buddies, or a group of ladies that hang out together and won’t let others in. Partiality in our love would mean we are still walking in the darkness. Although John is making a special notation about hating our brother, which the Greek word is used both as someone from the same parents, or fellow believers as we are in the same family of God, Jesus said that we are to even love our enemies. In other words, we are to love each other equally as God loves the world or all his creation. Again, our love should be equally demonstrated to all our fellow believers. Of course, there is a very special bond of love that exists in marriage, a love like no other. This bond of love was established by God, so it is just fine to love our spouse more than any other person. There also may well be a special bond of love within a family, between a mother and father for their children and that bond of siblings. John is not forgetting about that, or speaking against those special bonds of love, but rather speaking about the family of God, every believer. How can we detest a fellow believer? That would seem against everything we are supposed to be as a follower of Christ. Can we love someone, but really not like them very much? That seems ridiculous to even say. We think it applies more to loving less, then pure unadulterated hatred. Maybe even being indifferent toward some believers can be interpreted as hate. If we do not love them, then we hate them. It appears to be that kind of black and white issue, lacking any grey areas at all. Love or hate, pick one, then we apply that toward other believers. The problem is we cannot ever pick hate, or detest, or show partiality in our love. If we do, we are not walking in the light, we are in the darkness and have become blind to the truth of God. How can that be? How can someone who claims to be a Christian walk in the darkness? Yet, it appears it is possible, for we have witnessed such behavior in the community of faith. Can being judgmental or critical serve as being non-loving and thus would qualify as hate? Can gossip serve as a form of non-love, thus hatred? We know these little cliques serve as partiality and can serve as loving less those outside the group and thus hate. Again, there does not seem to be any wiggle room at all. We must love all believers equal, as God does if we are walking in the light. If we don’t then we are walking in the darkness, and are blinded to the truth.  

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