Love what God loves, hate what God hates.
Jesus loves us more than we’ll ever know! He loves us beyond the definition of love. But because He loves us, He hates our sin. God hates sin because sin separates us from Him. He wants us to hate and fight sin so that we (and others) can live fulfilling lives with Him. However, society tells us that by hating the sin that God hates in the name of love is hateful and accepting sin is loving.
In this episode of Kingdom Connection, Jentezen Franklin says that, “learning to hate wrong things is as important as learning to love right things.” As Christians, we’re called to love what God loves and we’re called to hate what God hates. But the Bible never tells us to hate people under any condition or circumstance whatsoever.
Franklin references Ecclesiastes 3:8 which says:
“A time to love, and a time to hate;
a time of war, and a time of peace.”
This world has enough critics. Let’s choose to treat people kindly even though we may not necessarily agree with their actions. Let’s speak the truth in love even though it may be awkward and we may feel nervous doing so. When people ask us our opinions on things that we know are sinful, let’s point them to the Bible. They may not agree, and they may even be offended, but at least pointing them to what the Bible says causes them to think about God’s word. And if they call us unsavory names and criticize our beliefs, well, we’re in good company. The Bible never promised to be uncontroversial. Jesus’s ministry was controversial to those that He had come to save! We’re in good company if standing up for our faith causes us to be thought of as “less than” by others.
INFO
