2 Corinthians 3 vs.18 (KJV)
But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
In 2008, scientists in London published a study where they interviewed people who carried real hatred for someone. What was interesting in the study was that upon review of the MRI that measured brain activity, they were amazed to find that hatred lights up the exact same area of the brain that love lights up.
While most of us think that we reserve the right to hate and that often the commandments of God are too restrictive and often invasive and unfair, the commandment to love actually has within it something that not only protects the recipient of that love but more importantly protects you.
The putamen is the area of the brain that helps with action; if you are with someone you love, it will cause you to have feelings of protection toward them, while when you are with someone you hate, you will have feelings of aggression, all of which is carefully weighed by the frontal cortex. When you harbor hatred, the brain, as it does with anything you do, is forming pathways and creating habits, and these things are slowly changing you. While change can be slow, over time you begin to take on the form of the thing that you have been fixated on. In short, you become the thing you love or the thing you hate.
When God asked that we focus on him, it was to remove the subconscious power that your hatred of your enemies has over you. After all, why would you allow an enemy to have the ability to change who you are and make you the very thing you despise? May you have the courage to leave your restrictive hatred in exchange for the bondless, overwhelming love of God.
