The Disastrous Burden of Hate

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The other day we talked about empty vessels and the evil that often fills them.


Today I’d like to share from the perspective of a person of color.


First of all, one of my feelings that surprised me is that I have no anger toward that 18-year-old kid. I tried to find it. Shouldn’t I be mad and feel justifiable hate for someone who would have taken me out if he had the chance?


Well, all I can see in him is evil. Yes, he chose what filled him up, but when I look at him along with many of the teenagers I work with each day, I see that he’s been bamboozled by people who should have cared enough for him not to hand him a burden so disastrously heavy as hate.


Along with his actions came trauma. Trauma for the victims and their families, but also a trauma that Black Americans have tried to heal from for centuries. 


I know it’s hard to understand. I didn’t understand it myself for a long time. Whenever people are killed for simply existing as they are, it creates an existential crisis for those who remain. To exist, uncertain you are safe just being who you are, can be an awful and traumatizing experience. 


This is where empathy comes in. Ask God to open the eyes of your heart so you can see beyond what you always thought was true about people with different skin than you have. Also, if you feel you have been educated on such matters in a way that makes sense, share it with others who could also benefit from that knowledge. Do not be afraid of talking about race issues because some think it causes division.


Not talking about and pretending racism doesn’t exist when people are hurt, broken, and dying over it is divisive.


What Satan intended for evil, let’s commit to allowing God to use for good.


I have no doubt that Romans 8:28 will continue to rise up in these circumstances. God can use ALL THINGS for good. Do you hear me? All things.


Don’t forget, we already know the ending.  Satan does not win, so we must refuse to allow these things to define us. 


“We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.” 2 Corinthians 4:8-9


Let’s live each day from a place of victory.

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