My, my, how many things we hate! Kids hate chores, husbands hate throwing out the trash, doing dishes, or cooking, some women hate doing laundry, some even hate cooking, men hate shopping, some people hate change, some hate socializing, kids might hate homework, etc. But there are some real serious and justifiable things we hate in our lives and relationships. We’re to love one another, not hate each other. However, there are things we’re to hate like abuse, cheating, lying, etc. Unfortunately, we sometimes allow certain hateful things into our lives.
We embrace things and customs God hates. God wants us to love our neighbors, but not to love this world. That doesn’t mean not care for it. It means not to love it above God, His plans for it, or to love its ways and what it offers. “Love for the world is enmity with God” (James 4:4).
God expects us to hate all those things He Himself hates. We’re not to hate people! Although we tend to make all types of distinctions of sins, to God, sin is sin; period. God doesn’t classify us by saying, “OK, please, all adulterers stand here; All liars, next to them. Murderers, I want you here by my side.”
All humanity is conceived in sin and therefore worthy of death. But God loved us to the point He redeemed us through Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross and resurrection. Sin separates us from God who is holy. We are to hate sin but love the sinner. When we begin to hate all fornicators, gays, thieves, etc. we stop demonstrating God’s love. We’re to love people into God’s kingdom. We’re not the ones who change anyone. God does. He draws people to Jesus (John 6:44), and Jesus saves them. No one goes to the Father except through Him (John 14:6). The Holy Spirit transforms our lives by convicting us of sin (John 16:8). Does He want sinners to continue on their destructive paths? NOT AT ALL! But loving them draws them to Christ who changes our lives. It’s not for us to beat down others! It’s not for us to beat up on others either! If we justify that, then, it’s perfectly well for others, including God to beat us up too! Because we were once walking in sin too– “For as such were some of you” (1 Corinthians 6:11).
We’re to love what He loves, and the way He loves, and we’re to hate what He hates.
“These six things the LORD hates, seven are detestable to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies and a person who stirs up conflict in the community” (Proverbs 6:16-19).
These seven things are contained within one verse, but there are hosts of other things He hates. He hates mockery, adultery, fornication, beastiality, homosexuality, pornography, perversion, boasting, gossip, etc.
God is definitely love, but He’s also a consuming fire (Hebrews 12:29).
After Moses received God’s laws, 250 people led by a man named Korah went up against Moses. They accused him of several things. Moses wanted the people to know who was really chosen by God to lead the nation, and told them they’d all find out the next day.
“And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron saying, ‘Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment…And the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up and their houses, and all the men that appertained unto Korah, and all their goods…and the earth closed upon them: and they perished from among the congregation…And there came a fire from the LORD, and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense” (Numbers 16:20,21,32, 33,36).
Bottom line: A Time to Hate is an appropriate time to hate everything that opposes God and His standards. If we agree with Him, we must stand on His side like the Israelites who feared God did. Stand on the other side, and God’s wrath will swallow us up. Why? Doesn’t God love me and know my heart? The answer comes in one verse: “God is not a respecter of persons” (Acts 10:34). He has no favorites, and makes no exceptions to His standards and judgments. Play with fire…get burned.
Until next time,
Sam