Explain the proverb: "Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all sins."

"While I was eating lunch with my friends, one of them told another he was fat," says Connor, age 7. "The word 'fat' upset my friend and me."

Did you say "fat"? That's a fightin' word for many people. Call me ugly, call me crazy, but don't call me fat.

Providentially, Connor remembered: "God teaches us to forgive one another. My friend and I should forgive our friend even though he was mean and hateful."

Christians should forgive because they've been forgiven by Christ. Can we withhold forgiveness when we have offended a holy God who has forgiven us of much greater offenses?

"Hatred makes people mean," says Patrick, 8. "Mean people look for bad things in others. Love makes people look for good in others."

Those who harbor hatred are like the guy who has Limburger cheese on his mustache: everything stinks. If we hate, we'll find reasons to justify our hatred. Our capacity for self-delusion knows no end.

Love oils relationships. When we forgive, we don't keep score of offenses against us. Some people have digital memories with total recall for the past sins of others, but a deleted file for remembering their own sins.

When Jesus died on the cross for our sins, he cried out, "It is finished!" When you say you forgive, remember Jesus' words on the cross. Let that be the end of it.

Remember the words of Lewis, 7: "Hate causes bad things. Love can heal hurt feelings and bring happiness."

Some pain can't be released by willpower. It's too deep. The Bible advocates replacement, says Lance, 7: "When love comes into your heart, it gets the sin out."

The Lord wants us to go further than forgiveness, says Carson, 9: "People should love their enemies.

We should also pray for them and encourage them. Sometimes, people are hard to forgive."

This kind of love is radical. Before Jesus taught and demonstrated this kind of love, who ever heard of loving your enemies?

Hatred has the power to energize entire nations and groups of people. There are places where hatred has existed for centuries. The Middle East is constantly in the news because hatred keeps fueling terrorist attacks. Jesus said murder begins in the heart.

The Apostle John wrote: "He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness until now" (I John 2:9).

In his excellent Bible commentary on I John, Zane Hodges wrote: "If the Bible taught that feelings of hatred were a sure sign of an unsaved condition, then virtually no one in the whole church would be saved! But the Bible does not teach this."

Hatred of fellow Christians nullifies all claims of walking in the light of God's grace. The two are mutually exclusive. Love not only covers a multitude of sins, but puts the lover in a position to receive God's blessings.

This column started with someone being called "fat." In the language of the original King James Version, Proverbs 11:25 reads, "The liberal soul shall be made fat." Be liberal, or generous in love, and you'll find your soul fat and rich beyond calculation.

Think about this: When Christians forgive one another and love their enemies, the gospel becomes incarnate. Even the worst haters are defenseless in the face of love.

Memorize this truth: "Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all sins" (Proverbs 10:12).

Ask this question: Do you forgive, as God has forgiven you through his son?

Listen to a talking book, download the "Kids Color Me Bible" for free, watch Kid TV Interviews and travel around the world by viewing the "Mission Explorers Streaming Video" at www.KidsTalkAboutGod.org. Bible quotations are from the New King James Version. To find out more about Carey Kinsolving and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

COPYRIGHT 2008 CAREY KINSOLVING

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