God's H-A-T-E Is Not as Ours!

"Hating people is like burning down your own house to get rid of a rat." - Harry Emerson Fosdick

"What is all the hate about in the world today?" The media, whichever mode you prefer, is saturated with hatred. Mean and spiteful acts of hate, gestures of hate, talk of hate, pictures of hate, etc. It is sad, no, it is disheartening to see so much hate in our society today.

A dictionary definition of hate is the: "intense hostility and aversion usually deriving from fear; anger." Baker's Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology says that, "hate derives from a strong dislike or ill will toward persons or things. As an emotional attitude, a person may oppose, detest, or despise contact with a thing or a person."

With so many open displays of hate, one has to wonder if somehow there is some misunderstanding about "hate." Believe it or not, haters who, in their blind and thoughtless actions, are actually not only misunderstanding hate, but misapplying it as well.

If one truly understands "hate" then it must known that we cannot love as we were meant to without hating. And, that we must hate the "right" things in the "right" way. Doing a little digging around, W. E. Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words offered some insight into this.

According to this source, hate is used three ways. First, there is malicious and unjustifiable feelings toward others, whether towards the innocent, or by mutual animosity. This is condemned by God (1 John 2:9-11). Then, there's the type of hate that results in a feeling of aversion from, or strong dislike of, what is evil or in error; antagonistic hate.

Finally, hate can be a relative preference of one thing over another. When we think of God, we thinking "God is love (1 John 4:8); but God hates, too. As shocking as this might sound, it's not at all inconsistent with his loving character.

God dislikes or displays antagonism toward evil. For example, God hates idolatry (Jeremiah 44:2-5). He also desires that we hate it, too (Colossians 3:5; 1 Corinthians 10:14). And, Proverbs 6:16-19 tells us seven things which God absolutely hates.

Now, the type of hate that we should present forth, like God, is based on the last two of the three mentioned earlier. God says that we should hate error and evil, or be antagonistic toward them. It is imperative that we hate every false way (Psalm 119:104). If we are not against error, then we really aren't for truth. What we believe does make a difference (2 Thessalonians 1:10-12).

Naturally, we must also hate all evil (Psalm 97:10). Any sin is against God (Psalm 51:4), and we need to take this seriously. Sin is also degrading (Proverbs 13:15). And if you should ever wonder why people don't hate evil it is because they do not love God (Psalm 97:10).

The other type of hate that God despises is the relative preference of one thing over another. As we should know, we cannot serve two masters (Matthew 6:24). Jesus Christ must always be number one in our lives, even over family (Matthew 10:37) and our own lives (Luke 14:25-26).

As I close today, let's try to wrap our arms around all of this. Hate is ugly, hurtful, and sinful. You and I have a different view of hate than God. Yes, God does hate, but his hate is not petty, and it is not without any truthful basis.

As for us, we shouldn't hate a person just because they are in error or sinful. Rather, we should hate the error and the sin. We should love God and the truth, with our hate focused towards error and evil. We have an inborn weakness for hate. It can creep into our lives with little notice, and even less reason. Keep this thought.

Scripture: Ephesians 4:31; Leviticus 19:17; Galatians 5:19-21; Proverbs 10:18; James 1:19-20

Prayer: Dear Lord, help me overcome this weakness called hatred and give me peace of heart and mind. Allow me to learn from this and grow into a better human being. Amen.

Have a blessed day!

Joyce