What do you love now, that you hated when you were younger?
Food, lifestyle, hobbies—even people—all come to mind. But if I’m honest, the answer is simpler and harder: I used to hate sinners. Now I don’t. I still hate the sin, but the sinner? That’s changed.
Life has treated me well, yet I’ve tasted enough of hate to know its weight. Hating someone is easier than loving them—that much I’ve learned. But preserving love? That’s far harder than releasing hate.
“Hate” may be too strong a word for my younger self. “Strongly dislike” fits better—especially towards wrongful deeds and sinful acts. But the prompt asks for hate, so I’ll use it.
I used to despise law-breakers. Now I see them differently—not as enemies, but as fellow travellers who, like me, fall short. What widened my perspective? Not philosophy or willpower. It was Jesus Christ. His love reframed everything.
I have no right to hate others, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). Following Jesus’ sacrificial love is a lifelong lesson—one I’m still learning. But I’m inspired daily to turn hate into love: through forgiveness, through releasing old wounds, through acceptance of the broken. Christians are taught, “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy” (Matthew 5:7). Hatred destroys; love covers wrongs. Animosity leads to eternal separation; forgiveness brings peace that outlasts time.
So—to love, or to hate? Which would you choose? And who ultimately judges which is right?
As I reflect, I remind myself: guard against self-righteousness. May this poem speak to you as you explore the same.
—
“Self-Righteousness”
The world is drunk, but I alone am clear—
Yet who decides who sees, who stumbles here?
You cannot see the log within your eye—
How dare you pluck the speck from others’ sky?
Sin blinds the heart, makes truth obscure and dim;
Pride puffs the soul, and will not yield to Him.
Your own lit fire—no wrong, you think, it brings;
But if another lights a lamp, it stings.
Self-righteousness sees not its own decay;
Arrogance knows not the price it’ll pay.
The righteous walk in humility’s light—
The humble act with justice, clear and bright.
Who judges shall themselves be judged, you know—
And heap hot coals upon their own head’s glow.
en yan hua fang 