The More You Know (Friday Devotional)

“Those who say, “I love God,” and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen.”

- 1 John 4:20

Hating people would be a lot easier if it wasn’t for the details.

Think about someone you can’t stand—a celebrity you’re sick of hearing about, or a politician who stands against everything you believe in, or someone closer to home who gets on your last nerve, whether a boss or a neighbor or even a family member. When you are reminded of that person, whether it’s when they show up on TV or when they post on social media or when they wave at you from across the street, your gut reaction may be to mutter to yourself, “Ugh, I hate him.” That’s an easy way to feel so long as you keep your distance, knowing just enough about them to be sure you loathe them. As long as they remain a rough collage of things you dislike, devoid of nuance, it’s easy to hate them.

But when you choose to learn a few details, it gets harder. It’s easy to hate The Politician, harder to hate the father of three who ran for office hoping to make his demanding parents proud of him. It’s easy to hate Your Boss, harder to hate the man who wanted to retire years ago but can’t afford his sick wife’s medical bills without staying at work. Even someone like Your Abusive Uncle, so easily reviled for the way he treats his family, is harder to hate when you learn that he was abused himself as a boy, that he is both a perpetrator and a victim of the cycle of violence.

The details of a person’s life don’t excuse their sins, but they do change how you look at the person committing those sins. As easy as it is to look at a person and see only their sinfulness, the details help you to also see the image of God they bear. They remind you that while all you may be able to see is an enemy, God sees a lost child needing to come home.

To love God is to also love people, and for a follower of Christ there can be no exceptions to that rule. Jesus loved both Samaritans and Sadducees, both John and Judas, and so as his disciple you are called to resist the temptation of hatred, of harshly judging the ugly broad brushes of a person’s life while ignoring the details that bring the picture into focus. Instead of being seduced by the easy temptation of hating those you cannot imagine loving, remember that there is more to them than what you can see, and err on the side of forgiveness and love.