Don't Be A Hater

"Don't be a hater."

You've heard that expression right? I find I agree with it for the most part, but in our culture it has come to mean things that I hate :^)))

Yes, I know. Sounds contradictory. Even so, the use of the phrase has come to mean that because we disagree with someone or we disagree with the way they choose to live, that we hate them.

Again, I hate that.

It is possible for me to love you and want the very best for you and still be at odds with your behavior and even the lifestyle you choose?

I do not think I hate anybody. I hate sin. I hate my own sin. I would like to leave it to you to hate your own sin, but if I am not aware of mine or choose to ignore it, what are your options?

If I am your brother in Christ and I am in a state of open rebellion against what is in scripture, you have an obligation to me to make me aware of what I am so obviously ignoring. You would not do this because you hate me. Quite the contrary, you would do it because you love me.

If you have children, let me ask you, do you ever disagree with their behavior? Do you discipline them? Is it because you hate them or because you love them?

I'm thinking your motivation is love here, but in today's culture, a choice to sin is simply a choice and if you don't like it, then you must be a hater. Right?

Prisons are full of people that never received proper doses of loving discipline from the people that loved them. Just sayin'...

You see. Love is doing the best thing for the one you love at the the time they need it most. Sometimes that involves discipline, training, coaching or whatever else you want to call it.

Hebrews 12:4-13

 
⁴ In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. ⁵ And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says,

“My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline,
    and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
⁶ because the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
    and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.”^[a]

⁷ Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? ⁸ If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. ⁹ Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! ¹⁰ They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. ¹¹ No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

¹² Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. ¹³ “Make level paths for your feet,”^[b] so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.

We all need some guidance, sometimes even a "time out", to think about our course in this life and where we really want to go with our faith. God and our brethren can guide us and help us or we can live the way we want to our own detriment, both now and in the eternal sense. None of it means that God hates us or our brethren hate us.

To the contrary, it means they love us more than we might at first realize and that love is motivated by something more holy than any of us.

So...don't be a hater...care enough to look out for the spiritual welfare of your brothers and sisters in Christ, even when they do not care. If they think you are a hater, so be it. The day may come when they will think otherwise. This life ain't over until the heart stops. Change happens.