Proverbs 10:12 “Hatred stirs up conflict, but love covers over all wrongs.”

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Today is the 21st Anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing. At 9:02 AM on April 19, 1995, the world witnessed the ugliness of hatred as it claimed 168 lives and injured 680. The monetary damage from the blast reached $652 million. Untold thousands experienced deep emotional scars from the bombing of the Murrah Building. Oklahoma City slowly recovered. However, they vowed to never forget those lives lost in this act of terror as shown in the photo from the memorial.

Both my husband and I graduated from the University of Oklahoma and always loved “The City.” We lived in Dallas at the time of the bombing and then we moved back to Oklahoma in 2007. Even living in Dallas, we felt the impact as my husband’s agency lost people in the blast. He worked in Oklahoma City for three weeks after the bombing to help. He experienced so much sadness and loss during that time as he helped to pick up the pieces for his agency.

As Proverbs 10:12 explains, hatred stirs up conflict. Hatred filled the hearts of those men who perpetrated the bombing. Their hatred drove them to kill innocent people including many children. Hatred destroys. However, love builds up. The NIV Bible mentions hate 80 times while the same Bible mentions love 551 times. God talks about love seven times more often than hate. As Christians, God calls us to love in all circumstances. Peter understood the significance of this command to Love even our enemies. He asks Jesus about it in Matthew 18:21-22, “21 Then Peter came and said to Him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?”22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.“ Even in the face of the hatred and evil of the OKC Bombing, we must forgive and love. If we do not, the hatred and anger will consume us and destroy us from the inside out as it did with the bombers.