“LOVING LESS”

15 “Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.”

1 John 3:15

“LOVING LESS”

One time, a woman who had been a Christian for many years reached out to a pastor, wanting to vent her extreme displeasure over someone. She said something like this: “I trust Jesus and know that He wants me to love others, but I don’t think I can love this certain person. They have all the characteristics of someone impossible to love. The things they have done to me are not easy to forgive!” This woman said she believed in the Gospel and committed her life to Christ. However, she allowed hatred to come between her and the person she held grudges on. As a result, she couldn’t have peace. But can this happen? Can a genuine Christian love God and hate someone at the same time?

In today’s verse, the author gives us another mark of a false conversion: hatred for fellow believers. Hatred comes from the Greek word “miseo,” which means “to pursue with hatred, to love less.” From this definition, we can say that hatred is loathing someone or loving them less. The New Testament often uses hatred to describe a strong preference for one another. For example, “God loved Jacob but hated Esau”(Romans 9:13). We shouldn’t understand this verse as God having a feeling of strong antagonism and dislike over Esau. Instead, it simply means that God favored Jacob over Esau.

Also, Jesus said:

37 “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.”

Matthew 10:37

Jesus isn’t saying that we Christians should hate our parents or children and desire to inflict pain on them. Instead, He is saying that we should love God more than we do our parents or kids.

John likens hatred to murder. One’s hatred is equivalent to having bloodthirsty intentions. All murders can be traced back to hatred, as we have seen in the example of Cain who murdered his brother Abel.

John seems to argue that even Christians can hate someone. And when they do, they act as if they are not children of God. Therefore, anyone who harbors grudges and fails to forgive does not abide in the Lord.

Perhaps the most important lesson we could draw from this verse is that God wants us to love unreservedly. While we tend to have favorites—we love those who love us back more than those who ignore us—God doesn’t want us to be selective. When we love less, we essentially hate a person and we do not truly obey God. He wants us to demonstrate sacrificial love for our brothers and sisters in Christ—whether they’re likable or not.

Are you holding grudges over someone or loving them less than others? Ask God to give you the grace and humility to let go of your resentment and show that person that you do care about them.

Pursue the Savior today!

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