HATE AND GREAT

How difficult it can be at times to cope with the issue of having confidence without allow it to turn into arrogance. That might not be so much trouble if we weren’t human, but because we are it does leave one vulnerable to allowing the good of confidence to be corrupted by sin.

When we get too distorted in our self image and we think the world or someone deprived us of our rights, we can easily grow angry. Which is what I think is Satan’s desire in some situations.

It becomes a battle to either suppress our sense of self worth so we lack the confidence to try and on the flip side to inflame our ego the point we think we are greater than we are. In both cases if it turns sour for whatever reason, hate can be the consequence. We can hate from resentment, we can hate from a sense of injustice. Most of all we end up just plain full of reason in our mind to be angry.

Injustice does rear its ugly head in life I wish it didn’t, but we wall face it to some degree. We can either deal with it in a positive way or negative way. And we can be sure Satan will do his part to twist our thinking to lean us in the wrong direction. He won’t even ask our permission.

This in no way makes God incapable of helping us in such situations. But that requires us to seek him for such help.

When the voice so lies from the father of lies burn in our head it can clog our soul’s willingness to listen for the truth. It can restrict our vision to see our what we think we are greater than we are.

In the end what gets sacrificed it the balance and endurance to deal with life as God’s spirit would lead. I’ve sadly seen in my own life and those of other followers of Christ when hate fuels a thought. Those are the truly sad times when Satan can get the best of any of us.

What is an even bigger problem is when that hate burns to the point it scorches our conscience. We can become consume with some distorted since of vengeance or feeling we have to right to take justice in our own hand. When that happens, hate becomes a blindfold that keeps us from being able to see the consequences of such action.

Naturally if it goes unchecked Satan will keep stirring the pot till we drift father and farther in rebellion against God and down a path of complete disobedience. In some cases it translates into seeing some mature “saint” so consumed with hate that they have not ability at all to remotely see the terrible truth of one’s actions.

It never ends with a real victory when hate is the driving flame. But to resist it even with all the pain we suffer is the one part of faith that can be the most taxing on one’s senses. What comfort me the most in the times of trials is knowing God never misses seeing every tear or the person who caused them. Sometimes that has to be the single promise we cling to. And I pray we never lose that grip by faith.