For years I assumed that hatred was a bad thing. I thought that all “good” people loved everybody and everything. The tension between what I thought I should be and what I was continued to bubble along unresolved. Every once in awhile I would lose control with my anger, frustration, and emotions spilling out in bizarre shapes and sizes. I asked others about their views on the subject and I always ended up in two camps. One said no emotion was “good” or “bad”. The key was what we did with the emotion. The other said that all “negative” emotions were inherently “wrong” and that the key to success came with discipline.
I see the world differently since last asking the question. While emotions are just emotions, not “good” or “bad”, they do reflect my soul’s values. Expressing and acting out emotions, all types, articulates to others and to my self what I really believe. This is especially true when who knows what I say I believe in will ever discover my reality.
Can a follower of God carry and express both love and hatred? I hope so; God did and does!
The question really is, what do I hate and what do I love? For me, “the Fear-of-God means hating Evil, whose ways I hate with a passion – pride and arrogance and crooked talk.” (Proverbs 8.13)
The flipside of hatred helps complete the definition. To love means to accept with absolute compassion, without bias or memory, the friendship and gifts of another person in a manner that is consistent and unconditional. To love means to care intensely about the ways that I touch lives around me and the world in which we live. To love means to stand up and fight against injustice; anywhere and everywhere it is found.
Love shows itself in the most amazing ways. The wild abandoned hug of a twelve year old, a teenager intensely defending her view, or the steady and amazing consistency of my best friend.
There is much to hate, even more to love. God, guide my passion.
