It’s so tragic: The world today is overflowing with hate. It’s overflowing with hate blogs, hate tweets, hate phone calls, hate voice mails, hate e-mails, and old-fashioned hate letters.

Tell me, how would you sleep tonight if you got a hate message? I think you learn either to shut up, to stop listening to others, or how to engage people in real conversations. Behind every hate message I receive, I’ve discovered, is a hurting person. What I say and write simply hits one of their hot buttons. In a flash, an angry message appears. I can choose to ignore it, delete it, or hit “Reply” and ask a question.

Sometimes, I’ve discovered, you and I need to stop and ask: What I’m thinking—is it true, or is it just how I feel? Without denying our feelings—which can rage at times—it’s liberating to differentiate our emotions from the larger facts at hand.

That’s why James chapter 1, verse 19 [NIV}, says: “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.” And why Proverbs 14:29 [NASB] says: “Anyone who is slow to anger has great understanding.”

Indeed, let’s strive for “great understanding” as we seek to reach our world for Jesus Christ.

This is Andrew Palau.