Love in a World of Unforgiveness and Hatred

As humanity circles the toilet bowl of decline, the temptation is to respond and react in anger, hatred, and unforgiveness. The attempt of Satan is to take all of us down with the flush. If he can just get us to harbor unforgiveness and rage we will lose our moral high ground of Christ-life. Again this is precisely Satan’s temptation and design for these days of lawlessness and chaos.

Mounting Unforgiveness and Hatred

While re-reading Martha’s outstanding book, Altogether Forgiven, I am seeing even more the pressing demand to live in our world with forgiveness. While our world is going crazy with godless chaos and outright rebellion, the devil would like nothing more than for me to climb into the ring to meet hate, bitterness, and unforgiveness with the same.

So while elected officials keep us on the topsy turvy rollercoaster ride of uncertainty, my response can easily be to hate, to scorn, and to live harboring offenses. This would not only be destructive to my life but would also play into Satan’s plan of bringing down all of humanity in a God-hating frenzy.

Love Purpose in the Hatred

The remember a lovely meal I had with a number of friends at the house of Martha’s daughter Julia. At one point during the conversation, Julia mentioned God’s purpose in bringing hateful people before us. It’s not to judge, criticize, or hate in return. Our call and design for these situations is that we would bring Christ’s life into the circumstances through prayer. People pass through our lives, with all their mess, in order for us to pray, stand and intercede. This is amazing and freeing! My job is to bring Christ in as He wishes to reveal Himself. His sovereign design is for His entrance through my body.

As the world turns before me, I watch it with Him. The senator calling for our President’s assassination is lost. The Life of Christ is lost to her. And I can fit and fume with hate, or I can let Christ be in me about her and the many others who are racing into hell. I can’t expect them to be anything other than they are without God. Until He touches their lives, they will remain the same. And harboring unforgiveness only assures my destruction and defeat.

The Goal of the Devil

The goal of the devil is to imbue hatred and distract from love. I have written on other posts about how “the love of most will grow cold.” This is the entire point against us. The enemy wishes us to leave our first Love. It is impossible to harbor hatred, bitterness, and unforgiveness and remain in Love. Hatred distracts us from loving and leads us away from the Person of Love. Again this is the enemy’s scheme.

To be worried and concerned about the cares of this world levels my life. The Word says in 2 Timothy 2:4, that no soldier entangles himself with the affairs of this world. Yes, the Kingdom soldier stays on track, and our track is Christ’s Life and His Love.