We all have things we love and things we hate. We all have places we love to go and places we hate going. We all have people we love but do we have people that we hate?
Hate is a strong word but there are things that we should hate because God hates them. So, what are the loves and hates of our Lord? I could sum this up in short like this. God hates evil and loves righteousness. (Psalm 33:5, Hebrews 1:9) God wants us to be holy as he is holy (Leviticus 11:44) and he hates when the devil lies to us and tells us differently.
In Proverbs 6:16-19 we read about what God hates.
“16 These six things the Lord hates,
Yes, seven are an abomination to Him:
17 A proud look,
A lying tongue,
Hands that shed innocent blood,
18 A heart that devises wicked plans,
Feet that are swift in running to evil,
19 A false witness who speaks lies,
And one who sows discord among brethren.”
In scripture, we have a ready-made list of things God hates, but just because we have this list doesn’t mean it is all-encompassing. There are other things God hates that are not listed. Likewise, we do not have a ready-made list of what God loves but we see patterns throughout the scriptures. Today we will focus on one hate listed in Proverbs.
God hates Hands that shed innocent blood.
You may think this is quite simple and something that Christians do not have to worry about. You may be thinking, “We get it, Jasmine, don't be a murderer”.
This is actually much deeper than that. Many people use this scripture to call out abortion and rightfully so. We as Christians need to value the sanctity of life in a way the world doesn’t. We also use this scripture to talk about murder in the first degree but what we need to realize is that murder, like any other sin, begins in our hearts. The first person to ever be born of a woman on earth was also the first person to die on earth, not due to natural causes, he was murdered. Cain killed Abel because of hate in his heart.
We may not go as far as to murder someone but do we have hate in our hearts? In the same way, we may not commit adultery but do we have lust in our hearts? Jesus said in Matthew 5: 28
“But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”
If we look at 1 John 3:15 we see the severity of hating our brother.
“Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.”
I think now you can see why I chose to select this verse from the passage in Proverbs. Let’s take a look in the mirror because unfortunately, this is a real problem we face. We see racial divisions in the church here in 2024. My grandfather fought for civil rights in the 1950s and he had brothers in the church telling him to stop. Telling him that the church being separated by race was okay because the government said so. We have members of the church who will disown their daughters if they get pregnant out of wedlock. They would rather watch them struggle and fall away from God than help them to repent and support them in any way. These are just a few examples but we have to act in love even when it is unpopular. We have folks who sit in our assemblies every Sunday that may be struggling with same-sex attraction or who have family members struggling with this. This is not to say we do not condemn the sin but this is to say how are we talking about people who struggle with this? Are we hating them or do we simply see them as a lost soul in need of Jesus? Christ died for all so we have absolutely no reason to hate anyone.
We understand that murder begins with a heart full of hatred, let’s discuss what our heart should be filled with. God loves love. God is the very definition of love as we read in 1 John 4:7-8.
“7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.”
We can not love God and hate our brothers and sisters. We also read we cannot love the world and love God. We are called to love God and love our neighbors. As children in Sunday school, many of us remember reading about the Good Samaritan. This passage has become so popular that several nonprofits are using this name in some way. The passage shows us how to love someone we have never met. When we see someone hurting even if they are different from us…even if they are in sin… we should help. I’m not saying help them to sin but we have to help their physical needs and show them Jesus. (James 2:14-17) We can not let a person's sins stop us from loving them.
Do we help the single mother who had premarital sex? She is all alone, stressed and in need of Jesus and the community of God. This is the work of the church, we see a child and mother in need and we wrap our arms around them and show them Jesus. What about the teenager struggling with same-sex attraction? Should we shun them and tell them they are going to hell or do we wrap our arms around them and show them a better way? We never condone sin, we have to see every person as a soul who Jesus died for.
I love the movie Black Panther and at the end, King T’challa aka the Black Panther says “The wise build bridges, while the foolish build barriers.”I pray we can remove any hatred in our hearts and replace it with the love of Christ. Let us love one another. Let us stop winning arguments and start winning souls.
