There's A Solution To Hatred

In all of my 70 plus years on earth, I have never seen the amount of hatred spewing out from the minds and mouths of men toward their fellow man as I have seen in the past year (see USA Today article). We see hatred in the fabric of our whole society, through social media, in the political arena, and in our daily interaction with others (see article), i.e., hatred of police and other authority figures (cf. 2 Peter 2:9-15; Jude 1:7-10 NLT).

Beloved, there's a solution to hatred and it's found in God's inspired Book called the Bible (2 Timothy 3:16-17). The apostle Paul provides us with this inspired wisdom and revelation in Galations 5:15-26 PHILLIPS. Note the word "hatred" listed in the below text and the solution to hatred:

"But if freedom means merely that you are free to attack and tear each other to pieces, be careful that it doesn’t mean that between you, you destroy your fellowship altogether! Here is my advice. Live your whole life in the Spirit and you will not satisfy the desires of your lower nature. For the whole energy of the lower nature is set against the Spirit, while the whole power of the Spirit is contrary to the lower nature. Here is the conflict, and that is why you are not free to do what you want to do. But if you follow the leading of the Spirit, you stand clear of the Law.

The activities of the lower nature are obvious. Here is a list: sexual immorality, impurity of mind, sensuality, worship of false gods, witchcraft, hatred, quarrelling, jealousy, bad temper, rivalry, factions, party-spirit, envy, drunkenness, orgies and things like that. I solemnly assure you, as I did before, that those who indulge in such things will never inherit God’s kingdom.

The Spirit however, produces in human life fruits such as these: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, fidelity, tolerance and self-control—and no law exists against any of them. Those who belong to Christ have crucified their old nature with all that it loved and lusted for. If our lives are centred [centered] in the Spirit, let us be guided by the Spirit. Let us not be ambitious for our own reputations, for that only means making each other jealous."

As Paul expresses above, we have to be willing to be guided by the teachings of the Holy Spirit in order to cease any hateful attitude we might have and be pleasing to God. We have to stop the seemingly endless fighting and bickering between one another or we will destroy one another. The question is, are we willing to stop???? Has anyone ever heard of a word called l.o.v.e.? (1 John 3:14-23 NLT; cf. 1 Corinthians 13 NLT).

—Mike Riley, Gospel Snippets