It seems to me that there's a lot of unnecessary hate in this world. After all, we humans are very hateful creatures. We can grow to hate pretty much anything, from material things to physical things to spiritual things. You can hate that disgusting restaurant that your family drags you to each week against your will. You can hate your brother's iPod and the eardrum-shattering music he likes. You can hate the weather, or you can the neighbor's dog. You could even hate someone else's religion or beliefs simply because their opinion is different than yours.
Like I said, people can find a way to hate just about anything in this world. But above all of that, there's one thing that we as humans seem to hate the most: other humans.
I see it all the time, whether it's whispering about what's-her-name in the hallway or posting cryptically about what's-his-face on Twitter. We seem to have a hatred for other humans and everything they do, and we love to express it openly. Often, the reasons are totally ridiculous. We hate people for what they wear, what they look like, who they hang out with, and the bad things they've done in the past.
All I ever hear anymore is complaints about other people - our teachers, our bosses, our coworkers, our friends, even our family. But what good is it to go through life hating people? We hold these stubborn grudges against others for tiny reasons - reasons that don't even affect us - and all it does is make our lives harder. We let people get under our skin, and what to we get in return? Unhealthy anger and unnecessary conflict. It puts us in a bad mood, and what good does that do?
Now, I know what it feels like to feel so angry or irritated at someone that you can barely be in the same room as them. There is always someone that you see in the hallways at school or in the office at work that you just want to punch in the face. I'm guilty of it, without a doubt. But something that I've realized is that this is not how God wants us to live.
Lately I've noticed that in the Bible, it frequently says things like, "My dear brothers and sisters." I'm sure many of you have heard it said that we are all brothers and sisters in Christ, and we should love each other as if we were brothers and sisters. I've got a younger brother and sister, and though they drive me completely nuts on some days, I love those two more than anything. In fact, I'm not sure if either of them realize how much I care about them. But what I'm trying to do now is love everyone as much as I love my siblings.
It's hard - really hard - but God wants us to love all people, no matter what. He wants us to love Fred even though he smells bad every day. He wants us to love Sally even though she went to Betsy's birthday party instead of yours. He wants us to love Jenny even though she looks like a model every single day while you look like you just came back from the dead. Though we cannot ever comprehend His love fully, He wants us to love everyone because He loves them. Though this may seem impossible, there is a very popular verse, I recall, that says, "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength." (Philippians 4:13)
He wants us to love people. Period, end of story.
The point I'm trying to make is that we cannot let petty, unimportant details of a person get in the way of how God views them. I don't care if they're the nicest person you've ever met or if they're the most awful, mean jerk on the planet. I don't care if they post a thousand things on Instagram every day and drive you crazy. I don't care if they beat up your brother or robbed your house. I don't care if they are a Christian or a Muslim, if they're gay or straight, if they're one-hundred percent right, or if they are completely and utterly wrong. Even if they sin, that shouldn't matter, because you sin too. And you can't even hate yourself, because hating yourself is like hating anyone else. God made you, and God loves you.
God looks at everybody else just like He looks at you - a precious Child of God. Irreplaceable, Beautiful, Loved Beyond Measure. And if we let our own human, flawed opinions blur that truth in our hearts, then those opinions are all we will ever have.