7 February 2017 “Loving & Bold”
Psalm 97:10
You who love the Lord, hate evil! He preserves the souls of His saints; He delivers them out of the hand of the wicked.
Fact: I can’t love God and love evil at the same time. If I love the Lord, then I must hate what He says is evil. And if I love evil, then I hate the Lord. There is no having it both ways. And loving hating evil requires boldness that can only be backed up by God’s Word.
Hating what God hates actually makes me bold not intolerant like society would have us believe. Think of the boldness it took for Jesus to fashion a whip and clear out the temple full of people and animals. He dumped over tables and coins went in all directions, no doubt chaos ensued. But the account states the temple got cleared not that some stuck around. (See John 2:13-15) That’s bold. And his actions were completely backed up by Scripture, by God’s Word, so His actions were not sinful.
People confuse anger with sin, but if it’s anger over hating what God hates, it isn’t sin; it’s boldness.
Jesus rebuked the leaders of the Temple one day by healing a sick woman on the Sabbath. The leaders told her to come back during the work week to be healed. Jesus rebuked them, called them hypocrites, and healed her anyway leaving his adversaries shamed. (See Luke 13:10-17) In order to stick up for godliness the hypocrite was shamed. This isn’t mean or unloving of Jesus. This is proof that God’s word is Truth. They felt shame because of their shameful actions, all Jesus did was point it out. Bold.
We’ve all heard this: “Love the sinner; hate the sin.” Yep. Exactly.
Rob quoted Gifford on Sunday. He says the more a father loves a son the more he hates the drunkard, liar, and traitor inside. Pointing out what God hates isn’t unloving, intolerant, or short sided. It’s actually the LOVINGEST thing we could do so people won’t be deceived thinking they can tolerate what God hates yet have a relationship with Him. They can’t!
Hating what God hates doesn’t make me mean, and I should not keep from speaking out about it because of how people might react. It’s better to give them something to think about and possibly repent from!
How many times do we ask our family members not to talk about religion or politics at holidays and special occasions? Our goal is a peaceful coexistence. BUT loving God and ignoring the things He hates will not coexist no matter how hard we try to make them. It is never unloving to state the truth in God’s Word. I’m not saying the solution is to harp on people to death because that’s not Jesus’ model. He stated the truth once to the people he addressed and moved on. Some people still followed him and some didn’t. And some plotted against him.
I must remember that Jesus was bold, and He was bold because he was loving. And hating what God hates was more important to Jesus than the personal emotional comfort of his company.
Dear God,
Help me to remember that being bold for your Truth is so important. It shows the side I’m on, and I want to be on YOUR side and to stand for what you stand for and to love people how you love them and to be more concerned with how you see me rather than how someone might react to me for speaking out against what you despise. Help all I do and say be out of love for people. I do not want them to be deceived, and their reactions would be a result of your Truth not my words. Thank you for the example of your Son who didn’t harp on anybody but always stated your Truth because he loved them and most of all loves YOU. And it is in His name I pray. Amen.
Psalm 97:10
You who love the Lord, hate evil! He preserves the souls of His saints; He delivers them out of the hand of the wicked.
Fact: I can’t love God and love evil at the same time. If I love the Lord, then I must hate what He says is evil. And if I love evil, then I hate the Lord. There is no having it both ways. And loving hating evil requires boldness that can only be backed up by God’s Word.
Hating what God hates actually makes me bold not intolerant like society would have us believe. Think of the boldness it took for Jesus to fashion a whip and clear out the temple full of people and animals. He dumped over tables and coins went in all directions, no doubt chaos ensued. But the account states the temple got cleared not that some stuck around. (See John 2:13-15) That’s bold. And his actions were completely backed up by Scripture, by God’s Word, so His actions were not sinful.
People confuse anger with sin, but if it’s anger over hating what God hates, it isn’t sin; it’s boldness.
Jesus rebuked the leaders of the Temple one day by healing a sick woman on the Sabbath. The leaders told her to come back during the work week to be healed. Jesus rebuked them, called them hypocrites, and healed her anyway leaving his adversaries shamed. (See Luke 13:10-17) In order to stick up for godliness the hypocrite was shamed. This isn’t mean or unloving of Jesus. This is proof that God’s word is Truth. They felt shame because of their shameful actions, all Jesus did was point it out. Bold.
We’ve all heard this: “Love the sinner; hate the sin.” Yep. Exactly.
Rob quoted Gifford on Sunday. He says the more a father loves a son the more he hates the drunkard, liar, and traitor inside. Pointing out what God hates isn’t unloving, intolerant, or short sided. It’s actually the LOVINGEST thing we could do so people won’t be deceived thinking they can tolerate what God hates yet have a relationship with Him. They can’t!
Hating what God hates doesn’t make me mean, and I should not keep from speaking out about it because of how people might react. It’s better to give them something to think about and possibly repent from!
How many times do we ask our family members not to talk about religion or politics at holidays and special occasions? Our goal is a peaceful coexistence. BUT loving God and ignoring the things He hates will not coexist no matter how hard we try to make them. It is never unloving to state the truth in God’s Word. I’m not saying the solution is to harp on people to death because that’s not Jesus’ model. He stated the truth once to the people he addressed and moved on. Some people still followed him and some didn’t. And some plotted against him.
I must remember that Jesus was bold, and He was bold because he was loving. And hating what God hates was more important to Jesus than the personal emotional comfort of his company.
Dear God,
Help me to remember that being bold for your Truth is so important. It shows the side I’m on, and I want to be on YOUR side and to stand for what you stand for and to love people how you love them and to be more concerned with how you see me rather than how someone might react to me for speaking out against what you despise. Help all I do and say be out of love for people. I do not want them to be deceived, and their reactions would be a result of your Truth not my words. Thank you for the example of your Son who didn’t harp on anybody but always stated your Truth because he loved them and most of all loves YOU. And it is in His name I pray. Amen.
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