#265 – Hate Evil

Good morning loved of God

Romans 12:9b Hate what is evil.

The word hate here means ‘to abhor, to detest utterly’. This is an intense word with a strong meaning. The question is; what does it tell us to hate?

It does not tell us to hate people, even terrible sinners. The word ‘evil’ means ‘hurtful in effect or influence’. In other words we are to hate every act of sin and also what it does; its effect and influence. Let’s relate this to a worse case scenario, Adolf Hitler. It is not only ok, but right for us to intensely hate, to detest utterly, what he did and its effect on people. In our own lives, we should also intensely hate sin and the effects of sinful behaviour, ours and others, on people’s lives. God hates sin and its effect; we should too.

We tread a fine line between hating sin and its effect and hating the person. Take Hitler again. It’s too easy, and humanly speaking understandable, to honestly say “I hate Hitler and all he did”. Would Jesus say this though? This is a challenge to me; it really is. I want to love what Jesus loved and He loved people; all people. I want to hate what Jesus hated and that is sin and its effect and influence. Sin, according to the Bible, is anything that is not of faith. God is light and in Him there is no darkness. The reason we are to hate sin is because it opposes everything God is and everything He is for. Sin is what separated mankind from God and He yearns for every heart to be intimate with Him.

“Father, help us to hate what you hate while loving every person.”