As I was hauling myself back and forth across town yesterday between the driver license division building, social security office and my dorm, I had a lot of time to sit, think and read. And sit some more. While in the social security office I let my Bible fall open and it came to the beginning of Ecclesiastes. I started reading from the beginning. As I began chapter three, titled 'A Time for Everything', I became excited because the first eight verses of this chapter are one of my favorite groups of verses in the Bible.
So I began to read.
'There's a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:'
'... a time to be born and a time to die...'
'... a time to weep and a time to laugh...'
'... a time to search and a time to give up...'
Then I came to the eighth verse.
'... a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.'
A time to hate?
I had never taken this verse into consideration or even cared that it said there is a time to hate.
I decided to look a bit deeper into this, because for some reason it struck me pretty hard and I couldn't stop thinking about it. This is what I found, thanks to the Blue Letter Bible:
Ecclesiastes 3:8 is interconnected with Luke 14:26 -
' "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters - yes, even his own life - he cannot be my disciple." '
Hm. Picture this. Some angsty tenth grader, whose passion and mission in life is hating the world, is being forced to read the Bible by their mom - who thinks that it will do the kid some good. Amazingly enough, they actually do it. They come to this verse in Luke. A light goes on, a grin slowly spreads across their face and they immediately go find their mom. "Mom, guess what?! Jesus told me to hate my family." Now that their self-allowance of speaking ten words a month has been reached, they go running off to do whatever it is that angsty tenth graders do these days.
The thing is, the kid didn't care about what Jesus was saying. First of all, the topic of discipleship is a big deal. To be a disciple of Christ - to follow in His footsteps - is an honor. And I don't think it's to be taken lightly. Secondly, this verse can't be taken literally. Its true meaning is actually the opposite of what it seems to say. This verse speaks of love.
You should love God so much that love for your family and self seems like hate. Only when your love for God is greater than your love for anyone or anything else can you be a true disciple of Christ.
Love God.
Transform.
Give it up.
Carry your cross.
Follow Jesus.
Be a disciple.
'If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.'
[1 John 4:15-16]
......
Ch. Eighty-Three, Part Two:
I like the fact that this post started with explaining my curiosity of what 'a time to hate' means... and ended with the focus not on hate at all, but instead on love. This is fascinating to me, because once I'm interested in something and want to learn about it, most of my time, energy and focus goes into whatever that 'something' is until I either, a) have learned all that I can or b) am satisfied with what I've learned. So this time, when I'm actually interested in hate, it turns a 180 on me and I end up learning about love. As Phil, my youth pastor in Iowa, likes to say, "It's a God thing."
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