Who Do You Hate?

“You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you!” (Matthew 5:43-44 NLT)

In our current cultural climate hate is much more prevalent than we’d like to think. As a white person in America persecution is someone jumping ahead of us to take a prime parking spot. We have no real concept of what life is like for our brothers and sisters who face the threat of loss of property and life daily. We feel shorted if we have to wait for 2 or 3 people ahead of us in a Starbucks line.

With our entitlement mentality we struggle to understand why anyone would hate us, yet anger and disgust rise quickly when we feel unrecognized for our privileged and superior spot in society. The plot thickens when we profess faith in Jesus, yet continue to hold, if only in our mind, our deserved place of privilege. We see Jesus as our spiritual “genie in a bottle” who jumps out at our command to do our bidding.

For far too many churchgoers it’s a matter of perspective. We don’t mind going to church, as long as it’s in the “right” kind of neighborhood and we’re treated with the respect we “deserve.” The last church I served had been comprised mostly of white people who drove in from other neighborhoods. As the neighborhood where the church was located began to transition to a “less desirable” element, when I arrived there were only about 50 people left with a large building that was aging and needed a lot of repairs.

My role was to help them decide if they wanted to stay and try to reach the people who were now their neighbors or sell out and relocate someplace “more suitable.” To their credit they chose to stay, hire a young black Pastor and make some much-needed changes to seek to reach out, but the reality is, they’re still struggling to stay alive, not financially, but spiritually.

Unfortunately, that’s not an unusual story. Thousands of churches are closing their doors every year, more than are being established, partly because of the lessoning numbers of people of faith. Covid 19 took its toll, but we still have to ask the question – “Why?” Why are generations of people pulling away from the church? That’s a question for another day.

What I’d challenge us to consider is what are those of us who are still involved in the church doing to reach the many in our spheres of influence for Jesus? Consider this question from Penn Jillette, an avowed Atheist: “How much do you have to hate somebody to believe everlasting life is possible and not tell them that?”

We in the church have wrongly assumed “Nobody wants to hear the Gospel!” But here’s the reality: EVERYBODY NEEDS TO HEAR IT! That’s our commission that to deny, avoid, or ignore is a sin. On many levels it’s not unlike someone who has many times over the food they need, but refuse to share with those who have none. Honestly, how can we profess love for Jesus, yet refuse to share Him with lost family members, neighbors, co-workers, and anyone else we can seek to reach before it’s eternally too late.

What are we afraid of? In ever increasing measure Prophetic signs are signaling the end is near. How can we sit by and wait for Jesus to come for us while His heart is breaking for those He’s sent us to reach? Do we really hate them that much?

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed