Why Love When I Can Hate

Happy Sunday. If you read the book of Proverbs, you'll notice that the first nine chapters have a couple of themes. It talks about wisdom and it talks about adultery. From chapter 10 to chapter 22, we find about 375 separate thoughts, wise sayings of Solomon.

Today, I want to focus on verse 12 of chapter 10. Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all sins. Do you remember the story of Joseph? Beginning in Genesis chapter 37, we read of the life of Joseph.

Joseph was the 11th son of Jacob. We're told that Joseph was the favorite of his father. You may recall that Jacob had a coat of many colors made for his favorite boy. And what the coat looked like, we really don't know, but we do know that his brothers hated him.

Verse 4 from Genesis 37 says, "But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all of his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peaceably to him." As the story goes, Joseph had a dream and he told his brothers about it. We find the dream in verses 6, 7, and 8. He said to them, "Listen to this dream that I dreamed.

There we were binding sheaves in the field and suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright and then your sheaves gathered around it and bowed down to my sheaf." His brothers said to him, "Are you indeed to reign over us? Are you indeed to have dominion over us?" So, they hated him even more because of his dreams and his words.

Joseph had more dreams and he told his brothers and well, things just went from bad to worse. One day they'd had enough and they planned to kill him. They beat him. They stripped his fancy coat off and they threw him in a pit.

As they were going about their plan, they saw a caravan passing by in the distance and so instead of killing Joseph, they decided to sell him to slave traders. They sold him for 20 pieces of silver. Joseph was headed to Egypt as a slave. When they the boys got to their home, they told their father that Joseph was dead and they had put some blood from an animal on the coat and that was their proof.

In Egypt, now a slave, times were tough for Joseph. He was sold to a government official and Joseph was falsely accused of rape by his owner's wife because he would not sleep with her. He ended up in jail. And for over two decades, Joseph is in Egypt.

Fortunately, he was finally released from prison. He was released because he was able to interpret a dream that Pharaoh had that no one else could interpret. So, Joseph became Pharaoh's right-hand man. He was very wise and he helped Egypt prepare for a famine that would last for seven years.

As chapter 41 comes to a close, we find these words. All the world came to Joseph in Egypt to buy grain because the famine became severe throughout the world. In chapters 42 to 45, we read of Joseph's brothers coming to him to buy grain. Now, they did not recognize him.

They did not know who this powerful man was. It'd been well over two decades since they'd sold him to the slave traders. I encourage you to read the story in Genesis. After some tricks by Joseph to get all the boys in front of him, Joseph revealed his identity to his brothers.

They had to be petrified. Here, they were standing in front of maybe the number two most powerful man on the planet after Pharaoh. He could kill them. All he had to do was say the word.

And what did Joseph do? He took care of them. Let me go back to Proverbs 10:12. Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all sins.

The hatred of Joseph's brothers sure did stir up strife, but Joseph, what did he do? He showed love. He covered up those sins. Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all sins.

This verse is repeated in the New Testament. In 1 Peter chapter 4 verse 8, we find these words, "Above all, maintain constant love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins." Over the years, I've seen my share of hatred. Watch the news, strife is easy to see.

I've also seen the cure for hatred. I've seen love. I've seen parents forgive children when they could have cut the cord. I've seen wives forgive husbands and husbands forgive wives for doing what they should not do.

I've watched people in courtrooms say, "I will never forgive you and I hope to see you in hell." And I've seen people in courtrooms say, "Because of my faith, I must forgive you." Love is a choice. Love is a decision.

So is hate. Today, I am thankful that God has decided to love. Jesus came to forgive us, not to condemn us. You probably learned John 3:16 as a child, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

I love verse 17. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. God has chosen to offer his love to us, not condemnation. We should believe and receive and celebrate his great love.

Today, I encourage you to choose love. Pray with me. Father, you have forgiven us when likely we deserve judgment. Help us to be forgiving as well.

Help us to sow love wherever we go and not hatred. We ask that you fix this world. It's broken. And we look forward to a world yet to come where we are always with you and there was always love.

Until then, help us to love. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. God bless you.

Have a great, great week.