We were taught years ago, that a good preacher is preaching himself when he prepares and speaks his sermon. Everything we have said on this website plus this topic has already been preached to us. and we learn the lessons we need to learn.
Everything said in this specific post is said with a lot of heartfelt kindness. And we are not going to go into specifics just using the material to glean lessons.
Recently, we received an e-mail from someone who stated they hated us. We never met the person before and had no direct contact with them. Yet they hated us and not because of what we write on our websites.
We knew that attitude would be in that person because sinful third parties told us what they were going to do and there was nothing we could really do about it. The author of that particular e-mail was a victim of those sinful third parties’ evil deeds yet the author decided to direct their hatred and anger toward us.
There really is nothing you can do when a person takes that stance. Their minds are closed by the hatred and other negative and sinful emotions they let rise in their minds and hearts. A Christian cannot approach the people like that author as their closed mind does not let them see the truth and they can get angrier if one tries.
Sometimes it takes a fourth party to get involved to help the angry person to realize their mistake and see the truth. That 4th party can be God doing it directly or sending another human to work with the angry person.
The angry person won’t hear you but they might hear that God-sent person. There are no guarantees as that person has free choice. The one that wrote us chose to believe the lies and half-truths told him or her, (they did not leave a name), We know they were lies and half-truths as we know the whole story.
We are not getting involved because we do not want that author to hate the people who did this to him or her. They are as much a victim of those third parties as a person who is killed is a victim of a murderer.
We cannot get angry at them for their content in the letter nor do we hold any ill will or negative thoughts against the, We understand where they are coming from. BUT, they have always had a choice.
God’s instructions throughout the Bible apply to the author of that e-mail as well as to every victim that has existed in this world. They can choose the path that person is on right now or they can choose to follow the path that God laid out in the Bible.
We as Christians cannot force that choice nor demand that they choose God’s way over the sinful evil way they have decided to follow. That is up to the Holy Spirit to convict and convince that and those people of their wrong choice.
By not choosing God’s way, they leave themselves on a path to destruction as their hatred and unwillingness to forgive destroys them. They should forgive because they do not know the whole story and are making bad assumptions about the situation and the circumstances surrounding that situation.
They are taking someone’s word for what happened even though the words they received were not true. That is wrong and makes them as bad as the third parties that planned this direction.
The key is for these people to learn that God’s instructions apply to them even though they may not be a Christian. They are the ones in disobedience to God, not the person they hate. Christians must remember that they are not responsible for the decisions of those who hate them.
That responsibility lies on the people who decided to hate. We cannot force decisions on others even though the people that ran the different Inquisitions tried. They were given free choice just like Christians were and their decisions are on their shoulders.
You can’t pass the buck on this issue. Even Christians are responsible for their choices and we must make the right ones as well. As for the author of that e-mail, we do not think bad of them or hate them. They just do not understand that they are victims of evil and deception.
We would hope and pray that God sends a 4th party to that person and help them before it is too late for them. Christians will face different situations where people will hate them just for being Christian. That is not our responsibility.
Our responsibility is that we obey Christ in all situations even when we are victims ourselves. The author of that e-mail said that we would be too chicken to respond, while that person should have made sure their e-mail address accepted responses.
Sometimes all Christians can do is leave these types of people in God’s hands and endure the hatred. Responding in kind is not Jesus supported. Getting all the facts is important before you draw conclusions.
Coming to a conclusion without all the facts means you are making faulty conclusions that lead you away from God and his ways. That is not the right move to make. Christians need to do the same thing especially when they are trying to reach out and win the other person to Christ.
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