Dear Readers:
Being in the situation I am in, I have come face to face with hate. There are a lot of wayward souls who spew misguided anger at me. They assume the worst about me without really knowing me or the true facts about my situation. Some hate me because I am biracial. Others believe I am some ignorant, uneducated loser from some ghetto. Still others hate just to hate. There was One who came long before anyone ever hated me and He was spit on, whipped, beaten, persecuted and crucified. His name is Jesus Christ. I will never pretend to compare myself to my Lord, but going though this has brought me closer to Him and helped me identify with Him. Jesus endured all that suffering… for me, the people who hate me and even for the ones who hate Him. He died for every man, woman and child.
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.“ (NKJV)
Sin is sin in the eyes of the Lord and no one’s sin is greater or less than another’s. I wish every person who hates me could know that I love them and that I pray for them three times a day. I am not who they think I am and I did not do what they think I did. Even so, if there was any reasonable thing I could do to ease their pain, I would. But, only Jesus can do that.
My brother died last Wednesday. We were very close. So, I understand the pain of loss. There are a lot of people I could blame or hate for his death, but what can I gain from hate? When you hate someone, you hurt yourself. Hate is a caustic poison that eats at you and destroys you. Hate will not bring back what we have lost. It will not make us feel any better. Hate is of the devil. No matter how much anyone hates me, I refuse to hate them back. The Lord says we cannot receive forgiveness unless we forgive others. Forgiveness does not mean you agree with a person or their perceived actions. It simply means you agree to let go of the hate and anger you feel toward them; thus purging your own soul of the vile, evil venom that is hate. You will never know true peace until you forgive. You cannot fully heal until you forgive. No amount of alcohol or drugs can take your pain away. The only way to heal is to seek the Lord; Forgive, repent and then ask for and receive forgiveness. I would never have been able to deal with the loss of my brother without the Lord.
I am not mad at anyone who hates me because I, myself, once harbored hate until my Lord set me free. I will continue to pray for those who hate me and I will never hate them in return. To those who hate – You have the absolute right to feel any way you choose, but for the sake of your soul and your mental health, I pray that you will ask God to help you to let go of the hate.
2 Corinthians 2:3-11
“And I wrote this very thing to you, lest, when I came, I should have sorrow over those from whom I ought to have joy, having confidence in you all that my joy is the joy of you all. For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you, with many tears, not that you should be grieved, but that you might know the love which I have so abundantly for you.
But if anyone has caused grief, he has not grieved me, but all of you to some extent—not to be too severe. This punishment which was inflicted by the majority is sufficient for such a man, so that, on the contrary, you ought rather to forgive and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one be swallowed up with too much sorrow. Therefore I urge you to reaffirm your love to him. For to this end I also wrote, that I might put you to the test, whether you are obedient in all things. Now whom you forgive anything, I also forgive. For if indeed I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven that one for your sakes in the presence of Christ, lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices.“ (NKJV)
May God Bless and Keep You. May you find peace and learn to forgive.
Love In Christ,
Randall