Christian Living

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October 12, 2011 – Holy Hatred
These six things the Lord hates, indeed, seven are an abomination to Him: A proud look [the spirit that makes one overestimate himself and underestimate others], a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, A heart that manufactures wicked thoughts and plans, feet that are swift in running to evil, A false witness who breathes out lies [even under oath], And he who sows discord among his brethren. – Proverbs 6:16-19 AMP
In my childhood I thought we served a very judgmental God. I thought He was the kind of guy who would just sit around and wait for me to do something wrong, then POW! He would hit me with a lightning bolt like the Coyote would get hit with when he chased the Road Runner. After I changed my charred clothes and put out the burning ends of my hair I would continue life as usual. I was churched as a child but knew nothing of the depth of repentance and only thought God was there to kick me when I was down.
After growing into manhood and even falling away from the faith for several years I finally came to a close personal relationship with God. I felt a love from Him that I had never felt before. It was so strong in fact that I thought God loved just about everything. After all, He made the world, so why wouldn’t He love it? Then I ran across today’s passage. There are seven things that God actually hates. These seven things are very prevalent in the world, but they are also found in the lives of millions of Christians.
Now I am by no means going to get technical as some reading this passage would and say that these verses have more to do with body parts than people. To say that our tongues told a lie and we had no part in it is ludicrous. To say that our heart planned wickedness without our actions is stupidity. Christians as well as those unsaved make such outlandish comments every day. To believe any of these things which God hates can occur outside of us is just stupid people trying to blame someone else for their actions. They are lying to themselves and others, and in turn justifying behaviors on God’s hate list.
I would like to point out that Christians are guilty of murder without actually having committed the act of killing someone.
You are jealous and covet [what others have] and your desires go unfulfilled; [so] you become murderers. [To hate is to murder as far as your hearts are concerned.] You burn with envy and anger and are not able to obtain [the gratification, the contentment, and the happiness that you seek], so you fight and war. You do not have, because you do not ask. – James 4:2 AMP
So maybe you don’t actually kill someone, but hating them in our hearts is murdering them. I specifically wanted to point that verse out from the book of James to show that murderers are not solely confined to death row. God hates murderers, and if we hate, we murder in our heart. God also hates the actions of liars, gossipers, people planning evil, false witnesses and the prideful. Knowing God hates all these things, why in the world would Christians continue to practice them?
I believe the answer lies partially in my blog yesterday on diet Christianity. Some churches have become so preoccupied with God’s love, mercy, and grace that there is little if any teaching on how to really repent and completely turn from these behaviors. It’s frustrating. I mean it’s all there in black and white for us all to see. I know and understand that we can all be forgiven for our sins, but true repentance is not doing it again. For example, there has to be a point when liars stop asking for forgiveness for lying and simply stop lying. Gossipers need to stop continually repenting for sowing discord and just stop doing it. False witnesses need to understand that lying under oath is not an activity specifically reserved for an ex-president. Above all, remember that those things that God hates are things we choose to do.
Another possible answer to the question is that we cast blame somewhere besides ourselves. We as a society are continually trying to cast responsibility for things we have done wrong on someone or something else. Take those bozos protesting currently on Wall Street in New York City. They invested their money in the stock market and lost it and are now protesting. Hello people! You guys chose to put your money there. It was not done under duress. You took the risk, and your loss was no one’s fault but your own. But they, like many other people have this perception of themselves that they are perfect, so that when things do not go their way, it has to be someone else’s fault. We can never blame some invisible cosmic force or even society for our wrongdoings.
I feel like it is very important to know that there are things God actually hates. Equally important is the fact that He still loves us even if we are doing something He hates. The murderer on death row is loved by God just as much as we are. His chances for forgiveness are just as good as the liar and the gossiper. But to get off the hate list, we must first choose to stop participating in those activities. When we cease that which God hates and truly seek His forgiveness and repent, then and only then will we realize how much He has loved and continues to love us.

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