Sometimes when you read the Bible, you come across a passage that was written some 3000 years ago, and yet it fully encapsulates the problems we are facing today. It seems like no matter how much things change, people stay the same.
Leviticus 19:15-18 says,
“15 “You shall do no injustice in court. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor. 16 You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not stand up against the life of your neighbor: I am the Lord.
17 “You shall not hate your brother or sister in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of them. 18 You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.”
I wrote this weeks ago, and I feel like it’s a pretty safe bet that there is an argument on the news right now about an injustice happening in a court. There is an argument about someone showing partiality to the poor or the rich. You might think me some kind of oracle if this stuff wasn’t all too common.
When we see these things happening, we allow ourselves to get swept up in it. We want vengeance. We develop that grudge. We start thinking that my world would be a lot better if the group I was convinced to hate this week was “taken care of.”
This is not the person God called you to be. We’re told in 1 John 2, “Whoever says they are in the light and hates their neighbor is still in darkness.” We can’t live into our calling to be like Jesus if we are harboring hate in our hearts. You were called to be a lighthouse pointing people to the safety found in the loving arms of the father.
Who can you love. What grudge do you need to release. Who do you need to stop hating?