"The Missing Link"

 "Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned, but what sayest thou?" (John 8:5 KJV)

  "What can we bring to the LORD? What kind of offerings should we give him? Should we bow before God with offerings of yearly calves? Should we offer him thousands of rams and ten thousand rivers of olive oil? Should we sacrifice our firstborn children to pay for our sins? No, O people, the LORD has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God." (Micah 6:6-8 NLT)

 First of all, we must understand the opposite of hate; which is equal with murder, as in taking a life: is to give life, spare a life, offer yourself to preserve life; which is all based upon love. Man, sometimes I can surely miss that understanding! It is really not that hard to do! Anytime you place yourself before the needs of others, you are setting yourself up to hate! 

 If you think that I am making too much of this, you must examine the motives, and then look for the missing link. What is it that would cause us to hate? Is there such a thing as a little hate? Can just a little hate for anyone be controlled or managed properly? "A little leaven leavens the whole lump," which my mother would sometimes say, most likely quoting from Paul in Galatians 5:9.

 The point in Paul's letter, was about living by grace and keeping the law: if you are, on the one hand believing that you are redeemed by God's grace, and on the other hand, that you are made right by keeping the law, even if it is a small part of the law; then you frustrate the whole meaning of God's grace! Just a little bit of the opposite, a lie, will corrupt the whole meaning of what is right, the truth! 

 I really don't have all the answers to just about anything! But I absolutely know the One who holds all the answers to everything that I need to know about some things! We just need to know the basics and leave all the rest of the stuff, we cannot figure out, out of our reasoning to do what is right. 

 Secondly, we must walk humbly with God! To truly love as we should, requires God's help; without His help, we are helplessly broken and disconnected from the love we need, which is complete in God, and in God alone...

"We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here on this earth. Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. We love each other because he loved us first." (1 John 4:16-19 NLT)