The terms “love” and “hate” are not
necessarily emotions or feelings as much as attitudes; just as “light and
darkness” are not places but rather actions that reflect our spiritual growth. The love we have for one another and for our
neighbors is a love that expresses itself in our actions and attitudes, not our
feelings. In fact, we are to love others whether we FEEL like it or not. Some
people are easier to love than others; I heard one preacher say; “Some
Christians are like porcupines…they’ve got a few good points, but they’re hard
to get close to!”
If you claim you are a child of God and yet
“hate” any man - in John’s sense of the word - because of his face, his place, or his race, you
are walking in the darkness, and, may need to check your walk. Sure it’s easy
loving my wife, and loving my friends, but loving people I find irritating,
people who I think are weird, or loving people who just grate me the wrong way;
that takes God’s love. That’s why the word John chooses here is the Greek word “agape”, which describes God’s kind of love, the kind of love that’s given freely and generously, regardless of the worthiness of the object. C. S. Lewis was right when he wrote in Mere Christianity that “we spend too much time worrying about whether we really love our neighbor or not, when we should just act as if we do, and as we pray for them and do loving things, love will happen.”
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