Select a Language
Once I read the words that define home as follows: “Home is the kingdom of a father, the world of a mother, and the paradise of children.” The reason “home can be the kingdom of a father, the world of a mother, and the paradise of children” is that at home there are careful consideration and love among family members.
We are the members of the heavenly family, so we should unite in love.
God refines us in the crucible of our “family,” where all our evil, worldly passions such as quarreling, hate and jealousy melt away, so that we may have good character like a crystal and change into love. In order to re-create each of us to be a new person full of love, God has built a fence called “family” for us, both physically and spiritually.
The opposite of “love” is “hate.” Hate is the most unnecessary thing we must throw away in the process of changing into the people of the everlasting kingdom of God. When we get rid of all the hate from our minds and fill our hearts with love, we can be completely reborn as the people of heaven.
Thanksgiving is the way to defeat hate
A man had a serious argument with his wife in the morning and went out of his house. Trying to calm himself down, he walked down the road. Just at the right moment, the refreshing breeze blew gently, the rays of the sun pierced through the clouds to shine brightly, and the translucent bright green leaves danced in the breeze. Seeing and feeling the beauty of nature, he felt as if he was standing in paradise.
Then he realized that God opened the windows of heaven and was bestowing boundless blessings and joy upon him, even though He has the power to put him to death because he had committed sin against Him. It was for a very trivial reason that he was angry at his wife and hated her, but God had more than a thousand times bigger reason to be enraged at him. When he thought that way, he hurried back home and made up with his wife.
The confession of the man shows us well what kind of mindset we need to have in order to remove hate from our hearts. The moment he was thankful to God, all the hate he had disappeared. If we are conscious of God and thankful to Him like that, we will be able to overcome and reject all the feelings of hate that we may have in our lives.
Everything we feel angry about or hate is nothing compared with our sins deserving God’s everlasting wrath and punishment. Now, let’s take some time to think about how obediently we follow God’s command, “Love one another,” in our spiritual family.
History of hate between brothers
The book of Genesis describes the first hate crime in human history and the origin of sin caused by it.
… Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD. But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast. Then the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.” Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.” And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.Ge 4:1-8
The feeling of hate that Cain had resulted in his killing his brother Abel, and he became the first murderer in human history. Hate brings about such cruel and hideous crimes. That’s why God always teaches us to be compassionate to one another and forgive each other, and also has given us a command—“Love one another.” We must not hate our brothers and sisters like Cain but share God’s love with them from our hearts.
Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him. He said to himself, “The days of mourning for my father are near; then I will kill my brother Jacob.” When Rebekah was told what her older son Esau had said, she sent for her younger son Jacob and said to him, “Your brother Esau is consoling himself with the thought of killing you. Now then, my son, do what I say: Flee at once to my brother Laban in Haran. Stay with him for a while until your brother’s fury subsides. When your brother is no longer angry with you and forgets what you did to him, I’ll send word for you to come back from there. Why should I lose both of you in one day?”Ge 27:41-45
The history of hate between brothers is also found in the story of Jacob and Esau. One of them obtained a blessing, but the other lost it. Then the one who lost the blessing became jealous and envious of the one who received it, and finally he intended to kill his brother.
When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him. Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more.Ge 37:4-5
In the above verse, we can see that hatred arose among Joseph’s brothers when they felt jealous or envious of each other, thinking their father loved one of them more than the rest. Likewise, if we don’t love one another but hate each other, it will bring about irrevocable results.
God shows compassion equally to each and every one of us. He gives the blessings of the sunshine to everyone, not giving some people more and others less, whether they are righteous or wicked. This is the heart of Heavenly Father, and so is the heart of Heavenly Mother. Her mind is broad and deep like the sea enough to cover up all the people’s faults, as stated in the ninth Teaching of Mother. Resembling the heart of God, we should also have a broad mind enough to cover up our brothers and sisters’ faults, as the sea receives all the dirt and purifies it.
Do not be like Cain
Why did God let the stories of those who hated their brothers and tried to kill them be recorded in the Bible? It is because God wants us, His holy people who will become perfect as heavenly beings, to learn a lesson even from the history of hate and consider it a warning. God teaches us not to hate each other but to love one another.
“‘Do not hate your brother in your heart. Rebuke your neighbor frankly so you will not share in his guilt.’”Lev 19:17
From now on, we must get rid of hate completely. If you happen to hate a brother in your heart, you must remove the hate with the eraser of forgiveness and help him produce fruit worthy of Father and Mother. This is what God wants us to do first and foremost in the new covenant.
This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous. Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him. This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.1 Jn 3:11-16
“Do not be like Cain” means “do not hate your brothers.” If we become angry, hate or have a grudge against brothers and sisters because their words and behaviors offend and displease us, we may spiritually commit the same kind of crime as that of Cain. The Bible warns us that if we do not love our brothers and sisters, we remain in death.
While we live in this world, there may be misunderstandings and quarrels, big or small. For the same thing, some do not think it is a factor that can cause offense or enmity, but it can cause others to feel angry or hate. If we are always thankful to God for everything He has given us and are content and joyful whatever circumstances we are in, there will be no hate in our hearts anymore.
Satan once prowled around the world to sow the seeds of hate, and there were numerous good places to plant the seeds of hate. Most people’s hearts had moderate temperatures and conditions for the seeds of hatred to germinate and grow. However, the hearts of some people didn’t have good conditions for hate to grow at all, and Satan failed to sow the seeds of hate in them. They were the people who always had a thankful heart.
A thankful heart is the soil which prevents hate from growing and helps love grow ripe. In the soil of gratitude, a seed of hate can never grow. The fruit of love is borne only in the soil of gratitude.
If we have regarded our brothers and sisters’ faults as big and felt offended by them and also have had a distorted view of Zion because of a feeling of hate, we must destroy all the hate with love. When we always have a thankful heart to Father and Mother for Their grace, anything annoying or distressing will never happen to us. Let us only sow the seeds of love in the soil of our thankful hearts. Then joy and gladness will always be found in Zion, and thanksgiving and the sound of singing will not cease there (Isa 51:3).
Love blooms in a thankful heart
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.1 Jn 4:7-11
We must love one another as God has told us to. Sometimes we may feel heartbroken or hurt because of brothers and sisters’ ways of speaking and behaving, which are different from ours. However, we did more cruel and wicked acts against God and spoke more offensive words to Him. Despite all that, God embraces us in His loving arms, lets the warm sunlight shine on us, and allows us to feel the verdure of nature and to breathe the fresh air.
If we look around us with a thankful heart, we can experience a miracle every day and words of admiration will continuously come out of our mouths. On the contrary, if our gratitude ceases, our hearts will only be filled with hate. Engraving God’s word—“Love one another”—in our hearts, let’s take a look at another teaching that we should always be thankful and try to be good to each other.
Now we ask you, brothers, … Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other. And we urge you, brothers, warn those who are idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone. Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else. Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not put out the Spirit’s fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil.1 Th 5:12-22
God tells us to live in peace with each other and try to be kind to everyone in all circumstances. We must not have a feeling of enmity or hate towards anyone, although he or she doesn’t have the same thoughts as us; rather, we should always be good to everyone. This is the teaching and commandment of Father and Mother. They also tell us to be joyful always and give thanks in all circumstances. If we are always thankful to Father and Mother, there will be no complaint, no grumbling and no hate in our hearts.
‘Is there something about me that causes my brothers and sisters to have feelings of hate? Do I hate any brother or sister? Am I grumbling? Am I losing gratitude?’ Reflecting upon ourselves again, let’s think of Father and Mother. Everything will be solved if we are conscious of God. Satan attacks us when we do not think of God but stay away from Him. It was during Adam’s absence that Eve was tempted by the serpent. Likewise, if we stay away from God, we give Satan an opportunity to tempt us.
Giving thanks in all circumstances, let us remove all the hate and make Zion—God’s house, where the heavenly family members are gathered together, the true “kingdom of Father, the world of Mother, and the paradise of us, Their children.” Let’s make Zion a place full of Father and Mother’s love, a place without hate, a place filled with gratitude, and a place where our prayers and consideration for one another do not cease, so that our brothers and sisters’ pain, sorrow and hardship, which they have suffered in this world, will all melt away the moment they enter Zion. I earnestly hope that all our brothers and sisters in Zion will always remember the sacrifice of Father and Mother, have no hate, pray continually, and overflow with gratitude.