Those People

Ester 5: ⁹ Haman went out that day happy and in high spirits. But when he saw Mordecai at the king’s gate and observed that he neither rose nor showed fear in his presence, he was filled with rage against Mordecai. ¹⁰ Nevertheless, Haman restrained himself and went home.

Calling together his friends and Zeresh, his wife, ¹¹ Haman boasted to them about his vast wealth, his many sons, and all the ways the king had honored him and how he had elevated him above the other nobles and officials. ¹² “And that’s not all,” Haman added. “I’m the only person Queen Esther invited to accompany the king to the banquet she gave. And she has invited me along with the king tomorrow. ¹³ But all this gives me no satisfaction as long as I see that Jew Mordecai sitting at the king’s gate.”

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Riding my bike made me feel free. One time I was asked to go on a bike hike so I begged my mother. After her reluctant twenty questions she caved in. I jumped on my bike and we rode further than I would have ever imagined. We crossed the railroad tracks and went into a very unfamiliar neighborhood. Suddenly many of the people in the park chased us, calling us names. We sped away.

I recalled this incident as my parents were driving through another unfamiliar neighborhood and as we sat at a light someone threw a slush ball with a concealed rock at my window. I then recalled these incidents as I walked down the hall at a major university, only to be called a name. This lit my rage. I bundled the incidents together. Found a friend and was going to teach “those people” a lesson!

• Sometimes my hatred is cloaked in justified rage.
• Sometimes my hatred is hidden by something I wanted to do anyway.
• Sometimes my hatred is mixed in with a misunderstanding of a group of people.

It is so easy to stoop to a low position of looking on the outside of a person and putting them into a category, but I have done this in the past. This has caused me to mistake good people for bad and lumping what a single person did into an entire category of people who really shouldn’t be categorized.

• GOD said to me “All have sinned and fall short of MY glory.”
• GOD said to me “I have no respect of persons, I want salvation for all of my human creations.”
• GOD said to me “It does not matter where they came from, it matters where I am sending you.”

If I go down the road of hatred or counter-hatred then I am on a very destructive path. GOD knows my heart has evil in it and has forgiven me through HIS SON. HE desires that I tell people of HIS everlasting love for me regardless of my sins. HE needs to be my focus of resolution.

• Are you mad at “them?”
• Are you lumping large groups of people together without looking at your own sins?
• Can you start searching for those who need to hear GOD’s message from you rather than teaching “them” a lesson?
• Will you seek first the kingdom of GOD today?