20151213
LOVE and HATE
The Apostle of Love – John, gave many tests of love – the love for God and the love for people. The contrast between one of John’s tests of love and its opposite – hate – is very important for today’s Christians. This is so simply because the meaning of love has become so debased in modern culture that practically anyone will claim to have love, according to their own definition. A popular song says, “Everybody loves somebody sometime.” If this is correct and if the meaning given to love in this song is Apostle John’s meaning, then everyone can claim to have met John’s test and be a loving Christian.
However, this is not the kind of love that Apostle John is writing of. Consequently, it is of great importance to follow his reasoning in his letter as he contrasts love with hate and works out the origins, nature, and practical consequences of both. On the one hand, hate originates with the devil and indicates the existence of a bond with him. It expresses itself in jealousy and ends in murder. On the other hand, love originates in God and indicates the existence of a bond with God. It expresses itself in self-sacrifice and in many practical demonstrations of concern for those in need.
When sharing about love John introduced this challenge for Christians: “Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen” (1 John 4:20). In sharing this love-hate situation, he might well have the incident that took place between Cain and Abel, the first two brothers in the human family. Cain was not happy with God who rejected the sacrifice he had made compared to that made by his brother Abel. He was angry and consumed with hatred against his brother. God told Cain in Genesis 4:7: “If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.” The sad incident ended with Cain mercilessly killing Abel and ended up by being placed under a curse and driven out from the ground and from the presence of God. What a terrible outcome when you replace love with hate.
If Christians really do love one another, then they will not spend so much time criticizing one another, as is often the case. They will not abandon the assembling of themselves together while substituting some kind of private religion. They will not neglect one another’s needs. Instead, they will find themselves uniting together in a spiritual fellowship in which the Lord is worshiped and they themselves are mutually encouraged in the Christian life. So let us always practice this: “let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God” (1 John 4:7).
