Are we taking the poison?
TODAY'S PROVERB: One who hates, disguises it with his lips, but he stores up deceit within him. Proverbs 26:24
Why do people hate? Some people feel weak, victimized, or betrayed. Others are jealous and envious.
Hatred is more than anger over some infraction against them, although that is almost always the root. Hatred is a state of being that views the world in darkness.
Hatred takes an enormous amount of energy and time. It depletes the person of a healthy outlook on life because the person fixates on the anger and contempt and perceived or real offense.
Why would someone hide their hatred? Plans for revenge? Guilt over a lack of control? Whatever the reason for disguising their hatred with flattery or deceit, eventually that hatred will push its way out.
Can a follower of Jesus hate someone? Unfortunately, yes.
The road to hatred begins with something someone did to us. Or a repeated offense we feel we have no ability to stop.
At some point anger comes in which feeds bitterness and resentment.
That resentment can easily morph into hatred. Once we arrive there, how we see that person shifts. They lose their humanity and become what they did to us.
GOD created us in such a way that our body, mind, and spirit are allergic to hatred. Once it enters us, it begins to poison us.
It can manifest as exhaustion, sadness, chronic rage, and even depression and anxiety.
Anne Lamott once said, "...resentment is when you take poison and wait for the other person to die." I think this applies to hatred as well.
The biggest secret is that hatred is a tormentor to a Yeshua follower. And, it should be. We are being poisoned for one reason, unforgiveness.
In Yeshua's parable of the slave who was forgiven a great debt, the slave refused to forgive smaller debts of his fellow slaves. The master handed over the unforgiving slave to the tormentors who tortured him (Matthew 18:22-35). He summarized by saying: “So also My heavenly Father will do to you, unless each of you, from your hearts, forgives his brother.” (vs. 35)
Forgiving someone who has hurt or offended us does not mean what they did was okay. Or that we resume an unhealthy relationship. Forgiveness means we obey our Savior and refuse the poison.
If we are fixating on a person or persons and what they did to us or are doing to us, forgive them. If an offense keeps going over and over in our mind, forgive. If we've been harboring unforgiveness for some time, repent and forgive.
If, my friends, there is an ongoing act of abuse or offense, please seek counsel. Forgive as best you can, but get help. Know that eventually, you'll be forgiving.
Forgiveness is not an emotion, it's a choice. When we choose forgiveness we choose the path to life and freedom.
May we choose forgiveness--may we choose life, my friends.
Proverbs 26:24, Tree of Life Bible Society, Tree of Life Version - TLV #tlvbible #tlvproverbs
[WATCH Tree of Life Bible Society's CEO, Daniah Greenberg and me, Terri Gillespie, Author dig a little deeper with this proverb. Check us out at Tree of Life Bible Society, Monday through Friday, LIVE at 8:30am EST. Watch previous episodes there as well. Stay wise, my friends!]
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