The curse of hating those we dislike

"They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head: they that would destroy me, being mine enemies wrongfully, are mighty: then I restored that which I took not away."- Psalm 69:4

I was twelve years old and in the sixth grade when I first tasted the bitter dregs of hatred. My last name is spelled S-A-L-A, and another boy in my gym class at Thatcher Elementary School was a Hispanic kid whose name was Frank Sedillos. We lined up alphabetically for roll call, and since our last names both started with S, he stood next to me for physical education.

Now Frank was no ordinary kid. Having no mother or father, he had been placed in a state home or orphanage where kids survived by their brawn, and there the meanest kid was boss. The problem, however, was that Frank brought all of his pent-up meanness to school with him and bullied everybody who was in his path. In a matter of days I decided that I not only disliked this kid but everybody else who was Hispanic, something that I had to unlearn in later years as God worked in my heart.

Though some have disputed the allegation, it is said that a student by the name of Adolph Hitler was walking down the street in Vienna when a rabbi dressed in black with long side curls, reading a book bumped into him, knocking him into the muddy street. Adolph got up, cursed the rabbi, and vowed that someday he would destroy every Jew. Whether the story is true or not, it is certain that his hatred for Jews, stemming from whatever cause, irrationally destroyed millions of families.

In the past century the seeds of hatred have taken the lives of uncounted millions. To that infamous list you can add the purges of Stalin which took the lives of as many as 35 million, the Cultural Revolution of Mao targeting any who disagreed with his ideology, the rampage of Pol Pot in Cambodia, and the ethnic cleansing in Bosnia, along with the incessant conflict between Israel and her Arab neighbors.

Following the bombing of the World Trade Center in New York on that dark Tuesday, now known as 9/11, many people were shocked at the intense feelings of hatred which had driven Osama Bin Laden and his cohorts to take the lives of almost 3,000 people, leaving as many as 5,000 kids orphaned. And in the days following, some American Arabs were equally surprised at the venom of hatred they felt simply because of their ethnic background.

A few months ago I sat in the home of Maren Nilsen in Tromso, Norway. This talkative, smiling woman with silver hair had been a prisoner in a Nazi concentration camp. As we sat in her home and drank rich dark coffee and snacked on little sandwiches she had made, she told me of having survived the prisoner of war experience by stealing potato peelings from the garbage. Surely she had every reason to hate those who took her freedom and almost her life. "Did you hate the Germans after you were released?" I asked. She quickly replied, "No, not at all," and then added, "but we must not forget." In Maren’s life, her faith in God made the difference.

He made the difference in my life as well. Only the application of the love of God and the touch of His grace can take away the hatred and help us see hurting people as individuals worthy of our respect and our love. God is love, says the New Testament, and love is the only answer to the curse of hatred. Ask God to let love take root in your heart today. - Resource reading: Matthew 5:11-16