With as much difference, opposition and hate as there is in the world, it is powerful to remember the words of Jesus: "Love your enemies and pray for those who would attack you because of your relationship with Me." Let's address two biblical concepts that are often misunderstood, which then result in believers operating in the enemy's nature.
The first is directly connected to God's own estimations of a particular man. Some point to the Father's feelings for Esau as approval for trafficking in hatred. This is unfortunate, as the phrasings of Malachi 1:3 and Romans 9:13 are humanized and then used to reverse engineer the nature of the Lord. If we assume that His feelings mirror ours, we create a god made in our image, rather than allow our perspectives to be stretched by His perfect character. When God declares that He "hates" something, it is in a Spirit that is very foreign to the emotional make-up of most humans. We must adopt divine perspective. The word used in the Hebrew for "hate" is specifically a "de-choosing" and not the spiteful, bitter, emotional glare we see among people. In other words, because of Esau's appetites and behaviors, God distanced Himself and made a clear statement that He could not support and would not associate with someone whose values and behaviors were at intentional odds with His own. This is not egotism, but the ultimate in wisdom and love. God is life. His desires for people to revolve around and be anchored in that which accommodates and perpetuates life. Therefore, He intentionally deselects ("hates") those things which oppose life, so that humans will learn to adopt His values and enjoy His life.
The second is extracted from King David. Often, believers will turn to the words of David, "Don't I hate those who hate You, Lord?" (Psalm 139:21), as a permissive text expecting to receive justification for their disdain of others. Yet, such approval is not in the heart of God. We must remember that a description found in the Word is not necessarily a prescription proposed by the Word. When we read the Psalms written by David, we are usually getting a sneak peek into his private journal. These are the musings of a man who loved God deeply, but was also struggling with obvious character flaws. (Can anyone say, "Bathsheba?") This is not to say that we don't glean powerful teaching from the all areas of the Bible; but we must admit that God clearly doesn't intend for us to emulate the behaviors and adopt the perspectives of every character we find in its pages. That is one of the reasons why I love what Jesus said in John 14:9, "If you've seen Me, you've seen Our Divine Father." Jesus appears for a multitude of reasons, one of those being to clear up any confusion about the loving, humble nature of the God of the Universe. The best way to honor God is by loving. When we love - even those who hate Him, we walk in the Spirit of God that empowered the Cross of Christ. Nothing can defeat that.
So, my friends, love God, yourselves, your spouses, your parents, your children, your brothers and sisters, your friends, your neighbors, your bosses and co-workers, humans in general, and yes - love your enemies. In this way you fulfill the greatest desire of God; and then it will be equally said of you: "If you have seen <<INSERT YOUR NAME HERE>>, you have seen Daddy Divine."
Forever panning for gold,
Chris Liotta
Rivergate Church
Chris@WeAreRivergate.com
© 2016 Chris Liotta
No comments:
Post a Comment