By: Hikari

Read: Leviticus 20:22-22:16, Mark 9:1-29, Psalm 43:1-5, Proverbs 10:18

Whoever conceals hatred with lying lips and spreads slander is a fool.
(Proverbs 10:18)

Relate: One afternoon, my family’s household received a mail. It was from the Bureau of International Revenue. Our family owed the government a surplus amount of money that would put us in a situation beyond our ability to recover. It risked some of us getting arrested. For context, I have a Japanese side of the family. During my childhood, my parents separated and so did my two families. I remained with my mother on my Filipino side of the family while the Japanese side would also cut connections with one another.  We used to have connections in the family business but had to take our names out of those contracts. I would lose connection with my Japanese side for years, and they would not give support or contact to anyone. This separation and betrayal gave me and my family every reason for spite.

In the Japanese family, business was smooth until my grandfather made poor financial decisions. This put their entire family in a dangerous position, and I was also at risk of inheriting their debts. My parents also had to separate for this reason. Years passed by, and one of them reached out to my family and asked for financial assistance. Remember, this was after they cut us off from their lives. Their neglect gave me every reason to be unforgiving. The debt in the mail from the BIR was from my other family’s company after years of neglect and not paying their dues. Despite our separation, their debts leaked into my family and put us at a financial risk that still has to be settled to this day. Our received debt from their irresponsibility gives us every reason to hate. Despite this, I never had hatred towards that family.

React: We all know that in life, altercations are unavoidable. There will come a time when we argue with our friends, family, and co-workers, and those we will meet in the future. There may come a time when people’s actions negatively affect your life. However, as Christians, there is no excuse to have lingering hatred in our hearts toward our offenders. Hiding this hatred is no different from directly expressing it. The Bible teaches us to love our neighbors, therefore it would be unchristlike to be unforgiving. Jesus was mocked and tortured as He died on the cross for our sins, and still, he asked God for forgiveness toward His people. All forms of sin are treacherous toward God. If God is loving enough to forgive humanity for their wickedness, we should be forgiving to our neighbors.

Respond:

Our most gracious and loving Father,
Forgive those who still refuse to believe. Forgive those with a heart of hatred. With your grace and mercy, show them what power one’s forgiveness can have on their brothers and sisters. Rid all hatred from this sinful world so we can live in harmony as what was planned from the beginning. In the name of our Lord,
Amen.