Love Defeats Hate!

Monday's Devotion (3-14-05)

"A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger." Proverbs 15:1 (KJV)

This is a proverb that we could all profit from learning. So many people will say things to cause trouble, then they don't know what caused the trouble. Another thing we do is respond to evil with evil. Let's say that you're playing a game of Basketball and your opponent says, "I'm going to destroy you, you're a horrible player!" You don't need to give a prideful/mean response, just say, "Alright," and play the game! You don't need to defend yourself if you're good at the game, all you have to do is show it. If you're not good at the game then just know that you play for fun. It's not fun to fight. It's not enjoyable to let someone get you angry. When you show anger to someone who is trying to hurt you, you only show them that they have defeated you already. You have to show that through Christ, you are the better person! If you're nice even while they're being mean to you, then they will stop being mean. They won't find any fun in it, or they will feel bad for doing it.

As some of you may've figured out from my testimony... I used to be an expert at making people mad. Making people mad was my ticket to fun, when I was about sixteen years old. I can tell you first hand, when people don't get angry back or when people were nice to me... it ruined my attack. It ruined my immature fun. Remember this was online, where I was going into voice chats and making people angry. I had a group of friends with me and I remember a few of the rooms where there was one nice person to us. I'd say, "Guys, lets leave." I said that and we left, because I couldn't attack one person who was being nice to us. I'd sometimes tell the other people in the room, "We're only stopping because of this person." What I did back then wasn't right, but believe it or not... I learned a lot from all that. You can learn off of what I'm telling you right now. Love defeats hate!

These days, I can see right through people trying to make me mad. For the most part, I know how to handle it and how to make some of them repent from doing that to me. The answer is always love. Let me ask, what has hate ever solved? It doesn't solve any problems, it makes more! If someone insults you and you insult them back, then they're just going to keep insulting. If someone hurts you or makes you so angry, that you kill them... then you go to prison and you receive the judgment from God! OUCH! That's going to hurt you more than it does the person you killed. The right and good thing is to solve your problems with love and kind words. If you can't do this, then just walk away. It's a big world, you have plenty of space to get away from your enemies. You have no reason to respond with hatred! Believe the title of today's devotion, it couldn't be more true!

What people fail to understand is: There are ways to correct people and to do everything in a loving way. We don't have to be mean!

Prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for this message and for all things. Please forgive us of all our sins and we forgive all those who've wronged us. Please help us to love and not to hate. Help us to be bright lights and help us to respond to all things in a loving manner. In Jesus name. A-men!

God bless!

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