Catechism--Fifth Commandment--You shall not murder. What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we do not hurt or harm our neighbor in his body, but help and support him in every physical need.
1 John 3:15--Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
Devotion--In yesterday's devotion, I introduced the thought that anger and hatred is seen the same as murder in God's eyes. We see that in the words of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, recorded in Matthew 5, and we see it again in this verse from 1 John. In God's eyes, hatred toward another is basically murdering them in our thoughts.
I want to pull this into the realm of our relationships, rather than strictly focusing on how God sees this. Think about this for a moment. When you harbor hatred toward someone, how do you tend to act toward that person? How does your hatred essentially murder that person in so many small, untold ways?
Think about how you speak about that person. When you hate someone, you tend to talk negatively about them. You destroy their reputation when you speak in such a way about them, and you poison the minds of others toward that person. In terms of reputation, you murder that person by your words.
Think about how you think about that person. Can the person you hate ever do good in your eyes? Don't you tend to find fault in everything that they do? Aren't you always suspicious about what they are doing? Don't you question their motives and motivation, and tend to assume the worst about them? You murder that person in your mind each time you do this.
As people who are called to build up and encourage others, how can hatred ever accomplish this? As people who have been shown God's grace, how can our hatred ever convey God's grace through our thoughts, our words, or our actions? Simply, they cannot.
That's why John speaks so strongly about hatred. Hatred has a tendency to negate God's grace, in the life of the person toward whom the hatred is directed, and even within our own lives. To put it in a more simple way, it is almost impossible for hatred and grace to coexist.
How has hatred damaged relationships in your life? What opportunities do you have to receive God's grace, which covers your hatred, and then, to let that same grace change you and your heart toward that other person? How can you see that process begin today?
1 John 3:15--Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
Devotion--In yesterday's devotion, I introduced the thought that anger and hatred is seen the same as murder in God's eyes. We see that in the words of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, recorded in Matthew 5, and we see it again in this verse from 1 John. In God's eyes, hatred toward another is basically murdering them in our thoughts.
I want to pull this into the realm of our relationships, rather than strictly focusing on how God sees this. Think about this for a moment. When you harbor hatred toward someone, how do you tend to act toward that person? How does your hatred essentially murder that person in so many small, untold ways?
Think about how you speak about that person. When you hate someone, you tend to talk negatively about them. You destroy their reputation when you speak in such a way about them, and you poison the minds of others toward that person. In terms of reputation, you murder that person by your words.
Think about how you think about that person. Can the person you hate ever do good in your eyes? Don't you tend to find fault in everything that they do? Aren't you always suspicious about what they are doing? Don't you question their motives and motivation, and tend to assume the worst about them? You murder that person in your mind each time you do this.
As people who are called to build up and encourage others, how can hatred ever accomplish this? As people who have been shown God's grace, how can our hatred ever convey God's grace through our thoughts, our words, or our actions? Simply, they cannot.
That's why John speaks so strongly about hatred. Hatred has a tendency to negate God's grace, in the life of the person toward whom the hatred is directed, and even within our own lives. To put it in a more simple way, it is almost impossible for hatred and grace to coexist.
How has hatred damaged relationships in your life? What opportunities do you have to receive God's grace, which covers your hatred, and then, to let that same grace change you and your heart toward that other person? How can you see that process begin today?
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