“Hatred stirs up conflicts,
but love covers all offenses.”

Proverbs 10:12
https://www.bible.com/bible/1713/PRO.10.12

We live in a world filled with hatred. I don’t usually read the newspaper or watch the news. I find it stressful to hear about the hatred in the hearts of humans today.

It makes our jobs as Christians all the more important. You see it is our responsibility to love others. We have to show them that type of agape love that God shows us as his children.

God made us all different. We think differently, we act differently and even though we may be assigned the same task as someone else we may go about it in a totally different way. We’ve often heard that opposites attract. While this may be true, we also know that differing opinions often cause strife. It causes arguments in marriages, disagreements among the best of friends and even bickering and strife among church members.

So, as Christians how do we handle strife? Above all we must love and show love in the midst of strife. God does not call us to be ugly and hateful. He calls us to love.

There are numerous scripture passages where God commands us to love. Far too many to list now.

The Bible tells us that the greatest commandment is love. The Bible tells us that no matter what we may have or what talents we possess, without love we have nothing. The Bible also tells us in our scripture passage today that loves covers all offenses. The Bible says that loves covers a multitude of sins. We are told to love our enemies. This is not an easy task.

I’ve said this before that we must practice love. It’s easy to love loveable, sweet people. It’s not so easy to love lazy, rude, arrogant, or just plain mean people. But guess what, we are expected to love them too.

Our scripture says hatred stirs up strife. If you have ever hated someone or had an unforgiving heart, then you know it’s a source of heartache and strife for you. The other person could usually care less.

So as you go through this weekend, practice love. Try to remove bitterness and unforgiveness. You will find that regarding others with love will give you that peace and joy that God meant for us to have.

So love others, especially those that aren’t so loveable and have a great weekend!

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