The message of this post is that it’s easy to hate others and it’s easy to hate ourselves.
I’m not here to judge you.
I’m here to love you.
It’s not always the easy thing to do, is it?
As brothers and sisters on this planet, it is our job to keep each other accountable. Some of us have different ways of doing that. For some, judging and mocking and feeling proud when we are ahead of others is how we spur one another on in “love”. I know I have cackled maniacally when people around me stumbled, and I was a bit smug that I wasn’t the one stumbling. Though it’s funny how God has a way of reminding us that we are no more important than anyone else on this planet. Sometimes His ways are more uncomfortable than others.
But the point is this: we are here to intercede on our brothers and sisters behalf; not criticize.
When someone is doing something wrong, or clearly needs help growing in a certain area, and we happen to have a better way of doing it, we should teach them.
“God never gives us discernment in order that we may criticize, but that we may intercede”
-Oswald Chambers-
The easy thing to do is hate. To judge, sneer, mock, laugh, be proud, be self-absorbed.
That is too doggone easy.
The easy thing is to compare ourselves to others and feel as though we are “winning” if we aren’t as clumsy, gluttonous, obsessive, non-confrontational, ballistic, attention-seeking or rude as the people around us.
The easy thing to do is to cut people off. To decide it’s easier to brush off hard conversations, “deal” with things later, stop talking to someone instead of working things out. Run away and burn the bridge. The easy thing to do is to just build a new bridge.
Hating others is easy
Why does it seem easier to run, hide, and hate? Keyword “seem” here. Since really, avoiding loving people in the first place makes things 10x harder in the end. It’s a hard lesson to learn and sadly, some people never learn it! I know people in their 80s who still can’t see the forest for the trees when it comes to looking past the offensive person or situation and seeing it as a test from God; an opportunity to grow and do the right thing. An opportunity to shed light in the darkness and grow something new.
When people offend us, criticize us, mock us, laugh at us, treat us badly, hurt us, hate us, and reject us, we should simply: respond in love. At first, it’s hard.
Forget hard. It’s ridiculous. It’s extremely difficult. Seemingly pointless. You may think “The other person doesn’t deserve it. They can keep screwing up and I’m not going to help them because they deserve to suffer.”
Which, they just might deserve that. But that isn’t for you to decide. It is not our job to criticize.
C r i t i c i z i n g i s e a s y .
It’s a cop-out.
It’s the automatic, child-like desire of the human heart to hurt people back when they hurt us first.
But it isn’t what Jesus intended for us. That’s why Jesus died for our sin; so we will be saved from our meager selves and be able to shine His divine light and live according to His Holy Spirit; not our own. Not our own sad, selfish, cackling, childish, hateful, struggling selves.
It’s not easy to look past others’ faults and love them.
And not because they first love us.
But because showing others love that isn’t from ourselves is a testimony to the love that God has for us.
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It’s also easy to hate ourselves.
Besides criticizing other people whether they are failing, we also criticize ourselves when people are doing better than us! When others are more successful in whatever area we are striving to be successful in, we let others successes, blessings, and happiness kill our joy.
This is coming from Satan.
Isn’t it awful?
Shouldn’t we be able to celebrate others happiness’s and riches and not compare them to our own and wish we had it better?
Being dissatisfied with what we have is poison.
Comparing our worth to others is poison.
Judging and criticizing others is poison.
Yet it’s where our hearts naturally go. It’s the natural response.
But wait
Do you wish to break away from these responses and rise above yourself to a love and satisfaction that can only come from a source that’s bigger than you?
Do you wish to grow from a childlike response to a mature response?
Do you wish to be satisfied in who you are no matter who you stand among?
He makes us anew and loves us just as we are.
Comment with questions, responses, stories.
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xoV
OK, so this is odd, but when I trip, fall, or otherwise nurture my inner klutz…I usually laugh. I’m sure it’s a self-defense mechanism. 🙂 My kids tell me that they know when I’ve actually hurt myself because I burst out laughing. (I’m weird, I guess….)
Hahah thanks for sharing. I think that’s a great response. A couple months ago I had a bad headache. I went on a walk and the headache started to clear up. I smiled and breathed in deeply and looked up, saying “thank the Lord my headache is finally gone!”.
Only to be pelted in the middle of the top of my head by a 50 pound acorn.
Hahaha yo, it’s important to have a sense of humor :-p
Now to keep that sense of humor when people we are closest to stab at us? Not always easy, but not impossible either… 🙂 xoxox <3
50lb acorn…LOL I’ve been pelted by one or three of those!!!
I know that when I feel my comparing my own life to my sister’s, it gets me bothered and stress. I always want the best for my sister, yet I find myself being jealous as well. It’s something I’ve needed to work on for years. Thanks for sharing this… It is a good reminder… especially this time of year!! 🙂
Ain’t that the truth!!! A great goal to have is to kill our comparisons with others. Start replacing those comparative thoughts with something you love about the other person. You’ll feel a new sense of peace by starting to replace those thought patterns!! Growing love is sooo contagious and rewarding!!! Xoxoxo <3 <3 🙂