“To fear the Lord is to hate evil: I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech.” (Proverbs 8:13 NIV)
God lovers cannot make peace with sin. God and sin are utterly incompatible: oil and water. If we attempt to be the bridge between God and sin we will surely wash away and wind up as debris on evil’s bank. God and evil cannot coexist. If we still hold affection for sin, then how can we say we love our Lord? God calls us to hate sin because He knows if we do not hate it, we will love it again as we did at first. If we love God, we hate sin. We realize, sin is very the vice that pinned Savior to the cross; not His trespass but ours.
When we finally come to terms with the wages of sin we see it for all it’s ugliness. We recognize it’s gross injustice against our Lord and it’s agenda for our soul and we wind up hating it as God does. We despise sin and keep a wide berth, resolute to never return to our vomit even for a moment’s consolation. As believers, we detest sin because we recognize it’s wreckage across our horizon; in our own life and the lives of those we love and in our relationship with the One who loves us most.
“Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.” (Romans 12:9 NIV)
Hating evil has nothing to do with hating people. Our world has falsely entwined the two. Hating evil is abhorring the affliction that plagues humanity and in the same breath, fighting tirelessly to extricate souls from sin’s deadly grip.
Consider cancer patients and their care teams. If you were to walk through the halls of any cancer treatment center in the country and interview the fine folks that work there they would each adamantly insist: “I hate cancer!” Yet we all know – though their patient may be full of cancer – the patients themselves are not at all hated. Cancer patients are valued, treasured and fought for even as cancer attempt sto take their very life! It is the empathy for the patient that impassions the care team to fight for for their extrication from this insidious disease.
Friend, it is the same with sin. We hate sin because we recognize it’s tragic and terminal effects on a soul. We attend to the infected with every matter of treatment out of tremendous compassion, being sin survivors ourselves. We love the afflicted man or woman enough to tell them the truth about their condition and their cure. It is affection for the soul that fuels the application of truth, not judgment or hate as the enemy suggests.
We cling to what is good by loving the soul lost in sin. We love them enough to share the bitter medicine of truth – that if received would alter their prognosis altogether. We love them too much to keep silent and watch them waste away in their sin.
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all transgressions.” (1 John 1:9-10 NIV)
“Put to death, therefor, whatever belongs to your earthy nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. because the wrath of God is coming. (Colossians 3:5-6 NIV)
“Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces finds mercy.” (Proverbs 28:13 NIV)
“…teach the way of God in accordance with truth.” (Mark 12:14 NIV)
Lord, help us to hate evil as You hate evil. Awaken us to the any area of compromise: expose the holdouts in our life that are still soft on sin. Alert us to any agreements we’ve made with the enemy, replace complacency with disgust and excommunication. Help us hate sin as You hate sin: absolutely and without predjudice. But also, give us great love for those still lost in sin. Let us remember the pain of being taking places we no longer want to go. Give us compassion for those bound up by trespass and convinced of their despair. May we fight to share the truth in love and extricate our friend’s from the enemy’s fiery grip. Set us free through Your word of truth and the weight of Your great love for humanity. Amen.