Loving Your Haters

One of the most difficult verses to follow in our lives is “love your enemies”, would you agree? Bakit nga ba sa lahat ng kailangan nating mahalin, yung enemies pa natin ang binanggit? It’s a challenge for all of us, especially as this time. Ngayon wala ng “let’s agree to disagree,” kapag may belief or opinion ka na hindi sang ayon sa isang tao, automatic na you’re an enemy in their eyes. I remember a time na nag post lang ako about the increase in pollution (hindi pa to matters of faith ah), only to open the post again with thousands of hate comments. Imagine how many haters you might get for sharing the Gospel, which is for this world something that is very offensive.

“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:10). Being hated by the world is a part if living out our faith, it allows us to come into a realisation of how extravagant Jesus’ love for us really is, who loved us while we were His enemies.

How do we reflect this kind of love to the people around us, especially our enemies? What I realised is that God has given us the capacity to love like Jesus did. Our love just has to overcome some things in ourselves:

1. Love over my need to be right.

Isa sa pinaka malaking challenge to overcome ang sarili nating pride. It’s hard when we know the truth but people do not acknowledge it, then hate and mock us for sharing the truth. Minsan nagiging argument na ang Gospel conversations natin. How do overcome our need to be right? Remember that we’re not here to win debates, we’re here to point people to Jesus. Sometimes a good relationship is a better tool for the Gospel than a good argument.

2. Love over my dignity.

Isa sa pinaka-unang inaatake sa atin, ay ang dignidad natin. In the internet age, people are no longer afraid to throw insults at others. It’s demeaning and you might want to defend yourself or prove that they are wrong. But let’s remember Jesus who, “though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men” (Philippians 2:6). Hindi mo kailangan i-defend ang sarili mo, what people say about you doesn’t change who you are in Christ.

3. Love over my anger.

Tao lang naman tayo, when people disagree with us, mock us, and insult us, it will take a toll on our emotions and we tend to get angry. But we also need to learn how to love over our tendency to get angry. Kung mayroon man may karapatan magalit, si Jesus na yun. Pero ano nga ba ang ginawa niya? Jesus showed us that it is possible to show mercy and forgiveness even when people persecute us.

It’s an internal battle when we choose to love over all of these emotions inside us telling us to get angry or get even. Ang sabi sa Bible na we have to die to self and be more like Jesus whose righteousness is now living in us. Let’s not get in the way of ourselves when we are called to share the Gospel. When we learn to love our haters, we are setting a great testimony on how God loves sinners.