Matthew 5:44-48 ESV
[44] But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, [45] so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. [46] For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? [47] And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? [48] You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
I recently came across a short of a woman insulting the Church, right after playing a video with the caption “First time at a Mega Church Baptism.” The video showed a large pool with a huge crowd watching and performers around the pool. Now, if you actually pay attention to the video, you’ll see this isn’t a baptism or even a church at all. Or even on land for that matter. It’s a cruise ship. A Royal Caribbean Cruise Ship. It’s the Aquadome where they have water performances.
She made comments with other Christ haters about how the Church should be taxed. And how it took her three days to find words. Now, when people pointed out it’s not a church, but it’s one of Royal Caribbean cruise ships, it was just silence. No response. No acknowledgement. Nothing.
Imagine hating someone that you don’t believe even exists so much that you hate the people who do believe. Hate them so much so that you’d go as far as to lie on them for absolutely no reason and feed your 77k followers the lies, as you instigate. That to me is just crazy. Imagine making your entire personality about how you don’t believe someone or something doesn’t actually exist. That right there isn’t unbelief. That is called hatred.
Hatred is something that will consume you from the inside out. It’ll make you lie in order to get others to hate as well. It will blind you from any and everything that could possibly show you the error of your ways. It’s a stronghold that is only able to be broken through one and one alone, Jesus.
When I first saw the video, I’ll be honest my Great-Great Grandmother wanted to come out in me and I immediately thought, “Keep that same energy when you gotta stand before the LORD God Himself on Judgment Day.” That isn’t a Christian response though. It’s just responding to hatred with hatred. Which is easy. It’s what the flesh wants to do. But it’s not what we are called to do. We are called to do more than that.
We’re called to return hatred with love. Evil with good. Curses with blessings. It’s not an easy call. It goes against everything we are. The only way we can do it, is through Christ. We have to be filled with His love. Therefore, cast down every thought and hold them captive to obey Christ because we are called to be more.
Peace. Love. Go Forth and Return With Love.