DO YOU HATE?

Brad Green

The simple answer to this question is “Yes.” “No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon” (Luke 16:13). The better questions are “what” and “who” do you hate? “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield your selves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?” (Romans 6:16). “He that walketh in his uprightness feareth the LORD: but he that is perverse in his ways despiseth Him” (Proverbs 14:2). Man must choose whom he will serve. Man must choose whom he will love and whom he will hate. Love and hate will co-exist. If one is to be a servant of God, he must “hate every false way” (Psalms 119:104, 128). One who loves God, must hate evil (Psalms 97:10).

If your choice is to love and serve God, you must hate everything that is in conflict with His nature and His Will. In order to serve God, one must “abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good” (Romans 12:9). The servant of God must detest sin so much, that he will keep himself from it. “Can a man take fire in his bosom; and his clothes not be burned? Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet not be burned”? (Proverbs 6:27-28) It only takes one spark to start a fire. Christians should abstain from the very appearance of evil (1 Thessalonians 5:22) in order to ensure that they do not get burned “Go from the presence of a foolish man, when thou perceivest not in him the lips of knowledge” (Proverbs 14:7). The wisdom of God’s Word has given us the warnings that if heeded, can keep us holy in His sight. The desire should be to get as close to God and as far away from Satan and sin as possible. Otherwise, we will be separating ourselves from God and the hope of salvation. “The LORD is far from the wicked: but He heareth the prayer of the righteous” (Proverbs 15:29).

Solomon, inspired of the Holy Spirit, wrote, “to every thing there is a sea son, and a time to every purpose under the heaven...A time to love, and a time to hate” (Ecclesiastes 3:1, 8, emphasis B.G.). All men have chosen what they will hate, what they will Jove, and therefore, to whom they serve. We should hate sin and love God, “because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19). We must love what God loves and hate what God hates.

“Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew Him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as he is” (1 John 3:1-2).

God has shed upon us a love that can not be matched. He gave His Son to die for the world. He blesses us with every good and perfect gift (James 1:17). In return, He asks only that we love, obey, and worship Him. “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil” (Eccesiastes 12:13-14).