Title
Love Surpasses Hatred
Scripture
Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all sins.
(Proverbs 10:12)
Devotional
Hatred not only stirs up strife, it destroys life. It has the capability to destroy the one doing the hating as well as the one hated. Hatred saps abilities, talents, energies, and life. It is one thing to hate evil, it is quite another to hate people. We are to hate evil. It must be repulsive to us. Nevertheless, people are created in the image of God; we are not to hate God’s creation.
Love, on the other hand, builds lives. It makes people better. It has the ability to edify the one expressing the love as well as the one being loved. Love corrects, while hatred finds fault. Love listens while hatred only wants to be heard. Love desires repentance; hatred desires damnation. Love is obviously much better. The apostle Peter repeats the Proverb this way; “Above all things have fervent love for one another, for love will cover a multitude of sins.”(1)
(1) 1 Peter 4:8
Text For The Day
Proverbs 10:12: Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all sins.
Thought For The Day
“Resentment is when you let your hurt become hate. Resentment is when you allow what is eating you to eat you up. Resentment is when you poke, stoke, feed, and fan the fire, stirring the flames and reliving the pain. Resentment is the deliberate decision to nurse the offense until it becomes a black, furry, growling grudge.” Max Lucado, The Applause of Heaven (Word, 1996), p.100.
Questions To Ponder
· Consider: The Bible says, For God so loved the world…” It does not say, “For God so hates the world…” Does God hate people or sin?
· How does love cover sins? Consider 1 Corinthians 13.
· Is there someone you hate? How can you redirect that hatred to the sin instead of the sinner?
Morning Study Guide
Defining: Hatred is more than an impulse or emotion. What you hate reveals who you are. It is more than a matter of likes and dislikes. It can be a matter of life and death.
Referencing: “The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverse mouth I hate,” Proverbs 8:13.
Applying: Learn to hate sin and not people, Hate what God hates and love what God loves, and you will love life.