Good morning,
It seems that these days love is out and hate is in when living with people who will all have problems and cause trouble either by being good or bad depending on our own personal ideas. It is important that we remember that even though our enemy Satan has taught his followers to hate, it hasn’t changed God’s love for his creation and especially those of us who will live eternally. Satan has always done his best to get us to hate one another instead of hating the sins that people do. Some people who read their Bible to find fault will come across a verse like Psalms 45:6 Your throne, O God, endures forever and ever. You rule with a scepter of justice You love justice and hate evil. and come away with proof that God is a bully and that he hates evil people. Satan did a good job with the 10 commandments so that by the time Jesus came as a person while still being God, a good Jew felt he had a right to hate anyone who wasn’t one of them. Even Jesus’ followers were not aware of the wonderful change that came with his willing crucifixion and his powerful resurrection. Even after the Holy Spirit came to empower those who were saved by faith in their living Savior, they still kept the gift of eternal life just for their own special people.
It wasn’t until the Lord put Peter to sleep and then showed Peter a large sheet coming out of heaven full of all kinds of of animals that the Jews were told never to eat that everything began to change. Then a voice said, "Get up, Peter; kill and eat them.” Peter went into shock. "No, Lord," Peter declared. "I have never eaten anything that our Jewish laws have declared impure and unclean. Again the voice said, "Do not call something unclean if God has made it clean.”(Acts10:13-15) While Peter was trying to figure out what this was about, the Holy Spirit told him, “Simon, three men are looking for you. So get up and go downstairs. Do not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them.”(vs.19,20) The three men were Gentiles, not Jews, and they had come from their Roman Gentile master. I wonder if the Lord also reminded Peter on his trip the next day of what he had told them while he was with them. And I tell you this, that many Gentiles will come from all over the world–from east and west–and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the feast in the Kingdom of Heaven.(Mat.8:11) By the time Peter got to the houseful of Gentiles waiting for him, God had also told him to say something that was totally new. "You know it is against our laws for a Jewish man to enter a Gentile home like this or to associate with you. But God has shown me that I should no longer think of anyone as impure or unclean.(v.28) Later on in his presentation he said, "I see very clearly that God shows no favoritism. In every nation he accepts those who fear him and do what is right.(vs.34,35) Isn’t it strange that after thousands of years of teaching these truths and all the clarity of John 3:16, that we still don’t seem to understand. Isn’t it easy for us to fear and hate people who have a different religion or a different culture or a different approach to understanding God’s truth? Isn’t it easy for us to hate those who abuse or excuse or execute us and feel that’s the right way to do deal with those kind of people. Dear Lord, Please open our eyes to the wonderful truth of your love.
John 3: 16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Roy Wisner
