The Message

Hatred is Murder

God does not hate anybody. God loves the entire world according to John 3:16. He not only loves the world, He died for all the sins of the world, every single one of them.

Murder is a sin and Jesus died for all murderers. If we truly grasped the enormity of what the definition of hatred is from God’s point of view, we are all likely guilty.

Look at the verses below under the title of Murder (Matthew 5:21-26). We are all so easily susceptible to murder if we see it the way Jesus sees it. Notice the seriousness of murder since the threat of hell is possible

for anyone who is so angry that he or she wishes murder upon anyone else. God says “Vengeance is Mine”. We are not in a position to hate people. That is contrary to God’s nature.

What is the distinction? We should hate bad behavior but not hate people. We are to hate the sin and love the sinner. We are to love everyone, even our enemies (Matthew 5:43-48).

God demonstrates His love for us in this that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). Christians are called by God to die to sin and live to love sinners.

That will require forgiveness of sin. He himself bore our sins in His body on the tree that we might die to sin and live for righteousness (1 Peter 2:24).

So let’s look at ourselves and see how we can deal with hatred properly. First, we must see that we deserve death for our own sins. We deserve in a real way to suffer the loss of life because we have sinned against God. The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). All of us are sinners. But, God does not give us what we deserve! He gives us mercy which is what we do not deserve.

Mercy is a gift from God offered through the cross if we believe that Jesus died for us and accept His forgiveness for ALL of our sins. Having received that gift, we are now in a position thanks to the Holy Spirit within us as believers in Christ to forgive ALL sins committed against us. If we are to forgive ALL sin including those that cause us to hate, there is no room for hatred or murder.

We are called by God to love unconditionally. To hate is to justify a condition to not love someone and justify murder. If that is true in our lives and we are Christians, we need to confess the sin according to 1 John 1:9

and ask for forgiveness. If we are not a Christian, God invites you today to have all of your sins forgiven through faith in the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ. That will also give you the power to forgive others.

Please go to NEXT STEPS to learn more.

We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.

1 JOHN 3:14-15

Murder

21 “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ 22 But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell. 23 “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, 24 leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift. 25 “Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still together on the way, or your adversary may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. 26 Truly I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.

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