“For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother's righteous. Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you. We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him” (1 John 3:11-15 ESV).
The kind of love mentioned here is not human emotion. It is a love which is centered in moral preference and which prefers what God prefers, which is what is holy, righteous, obedient to God, morally pure, honest, and faithful. And for the believer in Christ, it means preferring to live through Christ, embracing God’s will, choosing his choices, and obeying them in his power. So when we love with this kind of love we will not deliberately and habitually sin against one another, but we will be kind to one another, and we will do for one another what is for our mutual welfare, according to the will of God.
And the opposite of this is described for us here as to how Cain treated his brother. At first he was jealous of him because God accepted his brother Abel’s sacrifice, but he did not accept Cain’s. And that jealousy turned to hate, and that hate turned to murder. And murder doesn’t have to be a physical taking of one’s life. But we can murder others with our lips and by how we treat them, and by how we speak of them to others. For it can have to do with punishing someone severely because of anger against him or her. Or it can mean to viciously defeat an opponent in some way or another.
And why did Cain kill his brother? Because Cain’s works were evil and his brother’s were righteous. And even professing Christians can hate one another in this way because one is doing evil in the sight of God, as a matter of practice, while another is living righteously in walks of obedience to the Lord, not necessarily in absolute perfection, but in practice. Even pastors of “churches” who are doing evil, and so they are diluting the gospel to make it more acceptable to human flesh, may hate (despise) and cast aside (reject) those who take God’s word seriously and who are living morally pure lives.
And then there are those who are being misguided into believing that they should support a particular people group against their enemies, and that they should even support them in their hate of their enemies and in their slaughtering of those they regard as their enemies, many of whom are not their enemies at all, and perhaps for totally ungodly and selfish purposes. The New Testament Scriptures not once condone violence nor do they say that we should get even with our enemies or that we should support anyone getting even with their perceived enemies. We are all to love our enemies!!
So if we give our support to any people group which is murdering other human beings, for whatever the cause may be, then we are guilty of murder. We are not to stand in support of anyone who is murdering other human beings. Or if we stand in support of anyone who does evil to others in order to get even with them, that is wrong. It is evil! It is not of God! But it is against God! We are not to be revengeful people no matter how we are treated. We are to love our enemies, and pray for them, and do good to them, and bless them (for their welfare, for what is for their good).
So, if you are someone who is deliberately and habitually and even premeditatedly sinning against God and/or against your spouse and/or against other humans, that is hate. That isn’t love. You can call it love all you want but it isn’t love. For if we deliberately and habitually sin against the Lord, we are his enemies, not his friends, and we are of the devil, not of God, and we don’t have eternal life with God regardless of what faith we profess with our lips. And if we are followers of Christ, we are going to be hated by some people who are still walking in sin.
So, don’t be a hater! Don’t be someone who deliberately and habitually and even premeditatedly sins against God and against other humans. And don’t join in with or support those who are murdering their perceived enemies.
For Our Nation
An Original Work / September 11, 2012
Bombs are bursting. Night is falling.
Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.
Trust Him with your life today.
Make Him your Lord and your Savior.
Turn from your sin. Follow Jesus.
He will forgive you of your sin;
Cleanse your heart, made new within.
Men betraying: Our trust fraying.
On our knees to God we’re praying,
Seeking God to give us answers
That are only found in Him.
God is sovereign over all things.
Nothing from His mind escaping.
He has all things under His command,
And will work all for good.
Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.
Men deceiving: We’re believing
In our Lord, and interceding
For our nation and its people
To obey their God today.
He is our hope for our future.
For our wounds He offers suture.
He is all we need for this life.
Trust Him with your life today.
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