Blind hate

He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness until now. He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him. But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes. – 1 John 2.9-11

Is it just me? Maybe it is the anonymity of the internet? Maybe it is the prevalence of social media and living our lives before the world? Maybe it isn’t as bad as it seems.

I don’t know, but it certainly seems like there is a growing amount of ugliness and hatred and meanness and ugliness in the world. Even worse, it seems like the church is not immune to this ugliness.

I hope it is only those things and that my perception is wrong, but it seem like there is an awful lot of ugliness and hatred being shown amongst believers. Christians, who should be seeking to find ways to unite during these dark days, seem to be find more and more way to divide and more and more things to fight over. I have been especially amazed to watch political opinions elevated to the point believers are divided, and not kindly, over political views.

Anyway, more on that later. I just want to look at one key phrase today, at the very end.

We have all heard the little phrase ‘love is blind.’ I guess there is some measure or truth in that. Love can make us blind to flaws other see.

But there is a truth here that is obvious, though not quite so romantic ‘hate blinds.’ When we allow hate to have reign in our lives all we are going to do is to stumble through life.

Hatred blinds us to anything else having to do with Christ. Hatred blinds us to all of our other flaws and sins. Hatred makes us focus on the specks in our brother’s eyes instead of the beams in our own eye. Hatred will destroy the body of Christ. Hatred means we are walking in darkness, and darkness is incompatible with God.