Don’t Hate Me

  OK, here I go….

 

  I think essential oils sound like a lot of hokum.  I enjoy it when the St. Louis Cardinals get beat.  I stand by my statement that Led Zeppelin is overrated.  I never understood why people waste so much money on their pets.  I think professional wrestling is a lame male equivalent of a soap opera.  I wish we had a better national anthem.  In my opinion, Pepsi Cola is taste abomination.  I’m not for gun control but I am really glad some people can’t have them.  I’m convinced paying anything more than a quarter for a cup of coffee is ludicrous.  I don’t believe Macs are better, in fact I think they are inferior computers.  

  Do you hate me yet?

  All these things are just MY opinion.  I could be wrong.  I may be right.  Or maybe there isn’t a right or wrong in them.  They might just be opinions.

  I know however there are some reading this right now that are thinking very dismissive thoughts on me.  My reputation, trustworthiness, and even my faithfulness to the Lord are being called into question.  My goal isn’t to get into a discussion about any of these issues but rather to make us think about how quick we are to divide about things that really should not separate us.

  The world is very quick to make you think that if someone has an different opinion on something you hold dear, then that person is your enemy.  And an enemy must be hated and ridiculed.  That’s not the case.

  God made us different in our likes and dislike.  You can enjoy something I don’t, work in a different way, have another take on what is the best way to handle a situation and it doesn’t have to be a dividing line between people.

  There are however some things that aren’t opinions that are matter of God’s truth.  In these matters, we must stand. But even in these matters we can’t go so far as to hate those that do(1^st John 4:20)

  Christians, we need to be very careful that in a hateful divisive world we don’t join in the fray.  I may not agree with you on every matter but I can still love you, I can still respect you as God’s creation.  We can disagree with detestation.

  You may not agree with me with but don’t hate me.