I had a friend who used to read a different version of the scriptures when he read through the Bible each year. I've been using Holman's translation lately. You have to love children to minister to children but if you are going to teach the life-giving scriptures need to filter, feed and fill every fiber of your being, myself included.

If you looked up stories about hate (see previous post), did you look up stories about love? mercy? compassion? If you do a word study, read the story around the passage. Or see how many stories you can think of where God demonstrated His love, mercy, compassion and that's what the scriptures say is happening. Where are the stories in scripture about hate? Check out those stories.

Ecclesiastes 3 is full of contrast - a time for this, a time for that ... not just love and hate. The scriptures confirm that, but have you ever taken each of these and searched the scriptures for the "when"?

birth/death
plant/uproot
kill/heal
tear down/built up
weep/laugh
mourn/dance
throw stones/gather stones (Jesus had a story about that)
embrace/avoid embracing
search/count as lost
keep/throw away
tear/sew
be silent/speak
love/hate
war/peace

How many of these can you find in the scriptures? How many did Jesus talk about? What did He say?