Everyone has them. On the job, it’s the person watching your every move to figure out why you never join in on the gossip, and why your moral values are reflected in your work ethic. It’s the person in your class who never studies but hates to see you pass. The person who serves with you in ministry who goes crazy when God begins to produce fruit through your efforts for his Kingdom. The family member or friend who can’t wait to see you fail at living the sold-out life because they remember how you used to be…
Haters.
Everyone handles them differently. For some, the very thought of receiving that much attention from someone who can’t stand them is the driving force behind their success. 
Just the thought of exhausting someone else’s time and energy on all that is you provides hours of amusement. For others, the insecurities of their haters begins to affect them. They begin to envision their haters and how they think and feel when making even the smallest of decisions. Unfortunately, they often begin to believe the hatred, leading to self-fulfilling prophecies.
But what would happen if we ignored our haters? Even better, what would happen if we allowed God to use our haters for our good and for his glory?
Hmmm.
That’s what Mordecai did. We meet up with Mordecai in the book of Esther. He was the cousin of Esther who adopted her after her parents died. He recommended that she become a part of King Xerxes’s harem, eventually leading to her becoming the new queen of Persia. Since they were so close, Mordecai would come by the palace once in a while to check up on his cousin. Eventually, Mordecai became a palace official. Mordecai finally got a little piece of mind. He and his entire family had been exiled from Jerusalem to Babylon by King Nebuchadnezzar. He got the opportunity to keep him and his cousin together and a position to match. However, Haman was promoted to the prime minister, making him the highest official in King Xerxes’s palace. His promotion placed him in ranking right under the king himself, causing him to get a big head.
So when all of the king’s other officials would bow to Haman feeding into his egocentrism, he felt good about himself. But when Mordecai refused to bow there was a problem. Instead of the officials seeing a problem within them for bowing to Haman, they thought something had to be wrong with Mordecai for not bowing. They felt a strong need to approach Mordecai about this. Kinda like the people you work with who have strong issues with you being so “Christian” at work. “Honey, it’s okay to let your hair down every once in a while. God understands you’re human. Just say one cuss word so we don’t feel so bad about cussing like sailors;” or, “Can you please turn that “Jesus” music down some? It’s messing up the flow of gossip with you playing “Encourage Yourself” all loud.”
LOL!
And when their efforts to get you to change prove unsuccessful-just like the efforts of the other officials with Mordecai- don’t they always try to take it higher? Don’t they always try to drag other people into the foolishness, lol? Be tryna tell your boss all kinds of crazy stuff to get you suspended, demoted or fired. They knew Haman had ego issues and that his position had gone to his head so they tried to stir up trouble. But if you look at the text Mordecai had set an example and they really wanted to see if he could get away with being different. They didn’t have the strength to take the stand for themselves and felt bad, so well hey, misery loves company.
Haman had a higher position than Mordecai so he could have just brushed his shoulders off and kept it moving. But no, the fact that Mordecai didn’t believe he was worth anything special caused him to become so insecure that retaliation against Mordecai wasn’t enough. He wanted all the Jews killed.
Ain’t that just like a hater? Believing the world revolves around them and that everyone should march to the beat of their drum.
Mordecai heard about the decree, panicked and felt bad for his people. But then he remembered that he didn’t have to handle his haters alone. He knew where he could go for help. He notified his cousin, Queen Esther. Esther then begins to work on the king’s heart-she really didn’t have to do much because he already favored her. She began to cook up his favorite meals and even invited Haman to one of them, inflating his ego even more. After the banquet, Haman still had to walk past Mordecai who still refused to bow. With his self-esteem, (now at mustard seed level), Haman goes home and starts to brag to his family about how much stuff he had. Wifey hops on the co-signer train and motivated her husband to kill Mordecai for disrespecting her boo.
So Haman decides to set up the gallows in his backyard and writes Mordecai’s name across the top of it, lol. For some strange reason that same night King Xerxes had trouble sleeping. He called for his attendant to read his life story to him to help him sleep (I won’t touch that, lol). During this bedtime story, the king finds out that Mordecai had a part in saving his life against people who worked for him that tried to kill him. The king realizes Mordecai was an unsung hero who had not been properly rewarded.
Watch God move, honey!
The king decides to go all out. He consults his highest official, a.k.a Haman, to see what would be best to celebrate this hero. Haman with his elaborate taste for excess had the king pulling out all his best robes and horses, not realizing it was for Mordecai. To reward Haman for his great idea, the king assigned him to be president of the “Mordecai Parade” committee, ensuring that he received his due reward. Mordecai was repaid and Haman went home picking up pieces of his face. He got home and wifey breaks his ego even more by telling him his plan to kill Mordecai and the Jews is stupid and that she didn’t know how he could think up such a dumb idea.
Haman finally gets to attend another banquet with the king. Esther is still doing her thing, basking in the favor of God, and makes her husband aware of “a plot” to kill her people while Haman is steady bussin’ a grub, lol. The king gets hype and asks who would be dumb enough to try and harm his queen. Esther kept it real. ‘I don’t wanna say no names, but Haman, lol”. This eventually led to Haman being hung in his own backyard at the king’s request. The Jews were saved and Mordecai was given Haman’s position.
Mordecai had the right idea. He ran to someone who could help him. He ran to someone who could work on the hearts of the right people to get the right results. We should run to Jesus who intercedes for us in our battles. He takes our issues to the Father who begins to work on the hearts of the right people. The Father causes the truth to come to remembrance, protects your reputation, and uses the situation for your good and for his glory. The Father is so awesome that he can use your haters to elevate you into your purpose, causing him to be glorified even more!
What?!
Remember Jesus had haters. The Sadducees and Pharisees followed Jesus all throughout his ministry just waiting for him to do something wrong so they could discredit him. Waited for him to fall so he would damage his witness. However, Jesus always came out on top, bringing more souls into the Kingdom and even more glory to his Father.
Having haters should not stop your shine for the King.
Keep being who you were called to be.
Haman will hang himself.
Different by Design 
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