How Is Satan Getting Us to Hate Instead of Love?

It’s the second type of hate, a lack of love, that we are to reject as Christians. When we were still under the control of Satan, this is how we acted: “At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another” (Titus 3:3). If we are characterized by malice, envy, and hate, we are still clearly under the control of Satan and not God. (For more on Satan’s strategies against believers, this is a great article from Desiring God.)

“We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him” (1 John 3:14-15).

Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer. Those are strong words! Those who hate will be subject to the same judgment as those who murder!  

“You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment” (Matthew 5:21-22a).

“BUT when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy” (Titus 3:4-5a).

Hatred is clearly an act of the flesh (Galatians 5:19-12). If that is true, why are Christians sometimes so hateful? The answer is that even though we may be saved from our sins, we are not always walking by the Spirit (Galatians 5:16).

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“For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other” (Galatians 5:14-15).

If there is one command in Scripture that should be obeyed, one command that encompasses the rest, one command that, if followed, would make us most like Jesus – it is the command to love!

Look around you. Do the Christians you know love like Jesus? Are they the most loving people you know? Do they love their enemies, their church staff, those who vote for the opposite political party, their difficult co-workers, the other parents on the Parent Teacher Association, the rude waiter or cashier, the driver who cuts them off in traffic, the neighbor who blows the leaves onto their lawn, the child who didn’t invite their child to the birthday party, their family members? 

Second, look in the mirror. Do YOU love like Jesus, or are you more known for those you dislike? The Bible says that the watching world will know we are Christians, or disciples of Christ, “by our love” (John 13:35). Can this be said of you?

If hatred is an extreme dislike or lack of love, then we need to devote ourselves to having an extreme love for others.

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Do I have an extreme love for my enemies? Jesus does.

This is the very heart of the gospel (the good news)! While we were still his enemies, Jesus died for us (Romans 5:8). 

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:43-44).

“Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you” (Luke 6:27).

“When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.’ And they divided up his clothes by casting lots” (Luke 23:33-34).

Do I have an extreme love for those who have never heard the Gospel? Jesus does.

“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10).

Do we only claim to have a heart for the lost, or do we prove it by our active gospel witness?  

Do I have an extreme love for those in need? Jesus does.   

“As soon as they left the synagogue, they went with James and John to the home of Simon and Andrew. Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they immediately told Jesus about her. So he went to her, took her hand and helped her up. The fever left her and she began to wait on them. That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed. The whole town gathered at the door, and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons, but he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was” (Mark 1:29-34).

Do I have an extreme love for and devotion to God? Jesus does.

“Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed” (Mark 1:35).  

“Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind’” (Matthew 22:37).

Do I have an extreme love for the sick? Jesus does.

“A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, ‘If you are willing, you can make me clean.’ Jesus was indignant. He reached out his hand and touched the man. ‘I am willing,’ he said. ‘Be clean!’ Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed” (Mark 1:40-42).  

Do I have an extreme love for sinners? Jesus does.

“While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: ‘Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?’ On hearing this, Jesus said to them, ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners’” (Mark 2:15-17).

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If love is from God and is such a life-giving, beautiful, and powerful force for good, then how does Satan get us to hate? The enemy loves to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10, 1 Peter 5:8). Hatred is absolutely destructive, destroying us from the inside out. Satan doesn’t have to destroy us if he can get us to hate each other. He will be able to sit back and watch as we destroy ourselves (Galatians 5:15). 

Martin Luther King Jr. said “Now there is a final reason I think that Jesus says, ‘Love your enemies.’ It is this: that love has within it a redemptive power. And there is a power there that eventually transforms individuals. Just keep being friendly to that person. Just keep loving them, and they can’t stand it too long. Oh, they react in many ways in the beginning. They react with guilt feelings, and sometimes they’ll hate you a little more at that transition period, but just keep loving them. And by the power of your love they will break down under the load. That’s love, you see. It is redemptive, and this is why Jesus says love. There’s something about love that builds up and is creative. There is something about hate that tears down and is destructive. So love your enemies.”

“God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus…. We love because he first loved us. Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister” (1 John 4:16-21).

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