According to 1 John 1:6, we either “walk in the darkness” or “live by the truth.” We walk in darkness, according to John, when we hate a brother (2:9,11), so the opposite to that hate – and the antidote to it too, therefore – is living by the truth.
The “truth” of what, though? The truth of 1 John 1:8, first of all, that “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” To live by the truth, then, is admitting we’re not exactly perfect ourselves, which is a great antidote to hate, because how can we justify hating people for their imperfections when we’ve got imperfections too?
A second truth John mentions to live by, is Jesus being “the atoning sacrifice for our sins – and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world” (2:2). So how can we hate someone for their sins, when Jesus atoned just as much for their sins as he did for ours?
A third truth from John is that Jesus is taking us all through the same process of “purification from all unrighteousness”(1:9). We can take comfort in the fact, then, that Jesus is on the job dealing with the imperfections of others, sparing us the need to hate them, therefore. Better still, John says we can help the process of purification in others by praying for them, and God promises to answer (5:16).
A fourth antidote to hate is knowing why hate gets started in the first place. What led Cain to hate was “his own actions being evil and his brother’s righteous” (3:12), and his resentment spiralling into hate. A growing feeling of resentment, then, is a great antidote to hate, because it acts like a bright red flashing light warning us to stop it in its tracks before it spirals into hate in us as well.
A fifth truth from John to live by is the example of Jesus himself, who “laid down his life” for people (3:16), even for those who despised him, spread lies about him, plotted to murder him, and refused to believe he’d been sent by God. The fact that he was able to do that is a great antidote to hate for us too, because he promises to live what he was able to do in us, so we can take nonsense from people and not hate them too.
And in 1 John 2:5, “If anyone obeys Jesus’ word, God’s love is truly made complete in him.” Love, the ultimate antidote to hate. But it requires “A very special kind of love” too….(next blog)
Buck To Basics 
Regarding point four, I once worked for a mining company whose sulfurous atmospheric emissions had destroyed much of the local vegetation. My work involved designing and fabricating equipment to take samples of these emissions so that engineers could design equipment to capture and use them to produce sulphuric acid, a useful industrial chemical.
During this work, I felt like there was something impeding my efforts to give myself whole-heartedly to this job. That something was a “smoldering resentment” I had towards the company for allowing the environmental damage to occur in the first place. Then, I realized I needed to forgive the company for this negligence; unforgiveness on my part had become a burden. When I forgave the company in my heart, I was relieved of this burden. Then I was able to function better as an employee, completing my assignments with greater enthusiasm.
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