Romans 12:9 (KJV)
Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good.
The best way to tell what a person loves is by asking what that person hates. If we love something we will hate that which destroys it. If someone we love is suffering due to illness, we will hate that illness because of what it’s doing to that person.
The ability to hate rightly directed is critical to living a successful Christian life. Love must be sincere and Paul explains what sincere love looks like. Abhor or hate what God hates, list of qualities as mentioned in Proverbs – pride, lying tongue, murder, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that is quick to rush into evil, false witness, a person who stirs up conflict.
Loves take sides and it involves commitment. It can’t be neutral or be dispassionate. “Love God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind”.
Jesus is committed to us and His love takes sides with us by standing against everything that destroys us. He did this even to point of offering His life on the Cross, destroying the power of sin, the works of the evil and death, so that we can walk in freedom, holiness, blessings and eternal life.
Does our love for God have substance or does it collapse under trials and temptations? Let the love for Jesus ignite a hatred for what is evil. Let our ‘inner life’ fight to take sides to resist the evil.
We need to learn how to hate that which destroys the object of our love especially our relationship with Jesus.
