Monday, October 18th – Hate Is Like An Acid That Destroys

Friends, please read the below extract from a devotional book I read: 

“One of the worst cases of hatred I have ever come across is found in a will written in 1935 by a Mr. Donohoe. It says, “Unto my two daughters, Frances Marie and Denise Victoria, by reason of their unfilial attitude toward a doting father, I leave the sum of $1.00 to each and a father’s curse. May their lives be fraught with misery, unhappiness, and poignant sorrow? May their deaths be soon and of a lingering malignant and torturous nature.” The last line of the will is so vicious I shudder to quote it. It reads, “May their souls rest in hell and suffer the torments of the condemned for eternity.”

Such utter contempt didn’t develop in a day. It had to grow over a long period of time. We should never allow our minds to become fertile soil for the seeds of hatred. We would do our- selves a world of good by heeding the words of Paul, “Do not let the sun go down on your wrath” (Ephesians 4:26). And James gave wise counsel when he told us to “be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God” (James 1:19-20).

Let’s not forget that “whoever hates his brother is a murderer” (1 John 3:15). How important it is, therefore, never to nurture hatred’s bitter fruit.

“When angry feelings go unchecked, they’ll mushroom into hate; so don’t let time feed bitterness, forgiveness must not wait.” (Sper) Hate, like acid, damages the vessel in which it is stored and the object on which it is poured.