Day 3 – Hateful

“Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers and overwhelms all transgressions [forgiving and overlooking another’s faults].” Proverbs 10:12

When we are wronged, personally or even perceived as wrong, and especially when there is no acknowledgement or repentance or change, there is an unwanted change that happens nonetheless and that is in our hearts – we begin to harden our hearts towards that person, blaming the person, feeling resentful towards that person and eventually hating them, causing us to be unable to see past the actions to where the hurt, mistrust and self-protection causes the negative actions in the first place, robbing us of our joy, peace and compassion. But with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit comes discernment, a powerful gift which lets us look past what we feel and what is happening before our eyes, to what is the root cause of all the symptoms presenting in front of us and enabling us to not only endure with good temper, but be able to adapt our own attitude, actions and words to that which will eventually lead to change.

Prayer: Wise Counsellor, thank you for not leaving us as we are, but reaching out and touching our hearts and minds, for releasing the darkness of hatred and bringing the light of revelation so that we can be catalysts of change. Thank you for revealing the utter uselessness of this emotion and how powerful the opposite thereof is. You are truly a remarkable God! In Jesus’s name. Amen.

 Written by Anna-Mart Nel