I’ve been addicted to sharing posts lately. If I find a post funny, entertaining, interesting or inspiring I will share it. I want to increase my reach so I’ve been sharing content to social media groups in the hope that they might like my shared and original material and sign up to my social media pages and website.
One time I shared a post to a group that was supposedly for millennials. The post I shared was about the Toronto Raptors have the best chance to get Kawhi Leonard next year.
Anyway, not a minute passed when I got a notification regarding this post. Apparently, one group member saw my post and thought it was inappropriate for the group. I replied, “I just thought there are Raptors fans in this group.” As of this writing, I didn’t receive a reply from the person, nor received any message from the group’s administrators. If they decide to flag me, I’m more than willing to take down my post and not share sport related content again.
But boy, how easy it is to get haters nowadays. People can find a reason to hate regardless of what we do. One very good example is Lebron James. We could say that when God thought of a basketball player, he thought of Lebron. You would think that the man was specially designed to play basketball.
Lebron became a superstar at a very young age and he was responsible enough to not be associated with scandals. He continually finds ways to be a blessing to the community and doesn’t slowdown in breaking NBA records. You would think that Lebron wouldn’t have any haters but no. He arguably has more haters than anyone we know.
The Bible says:
John 15:18-25
New International Version (NIV)
18 “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. 19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.
20 Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. 21 They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me. 22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin.
23 Whoever hates me hates my Father as well. 24 If I had not done among them the works no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. As it is, they have seen, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. 25 But this is to fulfil what is written in their Law: ‘They hated me without reason.’
Jesus was the nicest guy ever and yet even He had haters. This goes to show that everyone will have haters and the only thing that we could do is to use our emotional intelligence and respond to haters in a manner that would please God.
What are God-pleasing ways to respond to haters?
1. Pray for blessings in their life.
1 Peter 3:9
Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing.
This is hard. Speaking blessings to people who hurt us are going to be challenging. We will need all the faith that we could muster to be able to do this.
And that we should do. When we pray, let’s pray for God to give us the empowerment to forgive first and then pray for blessings to come over our enemies ‘life.
2. Shake it off.
Proverbs 19:11
Good sense makes one slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook an offence.
It’s easy to say “do not take offence” but doing it is a different story. Again, pray for God’s empowerment and another thing that we can do is to try and think that there is a root cause for the behaviour.
Perhaps he/she is just going through tough times and that’s why they’ve been giving people the attitude. Let’s be the bigger person.
3. Let God fight for you.
Exodus 14:14
The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.
If we fight for ourselves then God will not fight for us. If we choose to be still and trust God, then He will fight our battles for us. God’s vengeance is far worse than the damage that we could do. That’s why it is good to pray for our enemies because when God’s wrath come upon them, they will end up in a pitiful state.
Haters have existed since civilisations came about. We should ignore haters and seek good counsel. Seek mentors in your life that will help you get to the next level. Focus on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, and He will ensure that God’s plan for us will come to pass in full view of our haters.
I hope this devotional has encouraged and inspired you. Please subscribe to the website, like and share our posts. There are more devotional stories that are available on the site. God bless you!