File: /pub/resources/text/Our.Daily.Bread: db940218.txt
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OUR DAILY BREAD                           Friday, February 18, 1994
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Read:  1 John 3:10-15

                      HATRED'S BITTER FRUIT

            Whoever hates his brother is a murderer.
                          --1 John 3:15

One of the worst cases of hatred I have ever come across is found
in  a will written in 1935 by a Mr. Donohoe.  It says,  "Unto  my
two  daughters, Frances Marie and Denise Victoria, by  reason  of
their  unfilial attitude toward a doting father, ... I leave  the
sum  of $1.00 to each and a father's curse.  May their  lives  be
fraught with misery, unhappiness, and poignant sorrow.  May their
deaths  be  soon  and  of a  lingering  malignant  and  torturous
nature."  The  last line of the will is so vicious I  shudder  to
quote it.  It reads, "May their souls rest in hell and suffer the
torments of the condemned for eternity."

Such utter contempt didn't develop in a day.  It had to grow over
a long period of time.  We should never allow our minds to become
fertile  soil for the seeds of hatred.  We would do  ourselves  a
world  of good by heeding the words of Paul, "Do not let the  sun
go down on your wrath" (Eph. 4:26).  And James gave wise  counsel
when  he  told us to "be swift to hear, slow to  speak,  slow  to
wrath; for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of
God" (1:19-20).

Let's  not forget that "whoever hates his brother is a  murderer"
(1 John 3:15).  How important it is, therefore, never to  nurture
hatred's bitter fruit!

Author:  Richard W. De Haan

                When angry feelings go unchecked,
                   They'll mushroom into hate;
              So don't let time feed bitterness --
                   Forgiveness must not wait.
                              --Sper

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
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Hate, like acid, damages the vessel in which it is stored and the
object on which it is poured.

THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR:   Numbers 4-6



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