StillSpeaking Devotional “I Hate” by The Rev. Kaji Douŝa

Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good. – Romans 12:9 (NRSV)

How do we love our enemies?

We trust in God.

We have to trust that God opposes evil right along with us.

Vengeance is only for God; it’s not ours to seek.

Meanwhile, we need to hate what is evil, and we need that hatred so that we can fight evil effectively. I promised I would do this in my baptismal vows. Maybe you did, too.

I, however, have spent very little time addressing how I might, specifically, hate that evil, as Paul says. Maybe it’s because hatred can be so dangerous. Maybe it’s because it’s easier to hate a person than something more amorphous or conceptual. I have spent so much time focusing on how to love that I have very little practice in how to hate. Which means that when hate has arisen within me, I have been completely unprepared.

Which makes me wonder: does that serve?

What I pull from Paul today is that it is possible to love and to hate at the same time.

I love the person because Jesus says I have to.

But I hate what they do because Paul taught me to. And I need to hate their evil in order to overcome it.

What deserves your hatred?

Prayer

Help me to hold on to what is good, O God. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

The “StillSpeaking Daily Devotional” series is produced by The United Church of Christ. The original article is here.