Hate

There's this someone, none of you know him. But he's up to no good. A few of us are well aware of what he's doing but there's nothing illegal happening, just immoral. Just manipulation and deceit. Just taking advantage of a situation. Just pretending to care, to hurt with us while he's behind the scenes contributing to the hurt. Just putting us on our guard where once we were defenses-down trusting with each other.

It would be so easy to hate him.

So natural to drive down the road thinking of ways to get him back. Dreaming of the moment when everything crashes in, hoping he'll self-destruct. So tempting to change, ever so slightly, my own behavior to make his life just a bit more difficult. To expose his weaknesses by not covering him with my strengths. To gather together those in the know and whisper about what a fool he's making of himself and warning each other to be careful! To smile on the inside imagining his downfall.

So easy to hate. But when you've let Christ in, truly in to your heart the ease of hate becomes quickly a heavy sickness you can feel in your belly. Hatred bunches up in my shoulder muscles and tightens my brow and steals away the happiness that normally fills my mind. Hatred pushes the foundations out from under me and sends me into a fall that is happening only on my insides but feels like I'm crashing against concrete.

Christ makes the sky beautiful and the wind soothing and goodness reaches out from every side.

Christ in me makes it so hard to hate.

Galatians 2:20I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.