April 9, 2006
You've heard the phrase "Love the sinner hate the sin", but is this really how God conducts business? What are the things that God hates? Does he hate the people that do those things too? Why is it hard for us to imagine that God can hate without being guilty of sinning himself?
Are we people that hate?
These are all questions that are worth looking at. First, let's read what God hates from Proverbs 6:16-19:
16 There are six things which the Lord hates, yes, seven which are an abomination to Him:
17 Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,
18 A heart that devises wicked plans, feet that run rapidly to evil,
19 A false witness who utters lies, and one who spreads strife among brothers.
Now, I can honestly say that I am guilty of all of these, almost every day(except for the shedding of innocent blood. That only happened once...*just joking*...or am I?)!
The fact that I am guilty of all of these almost on a daily basis has to help me keep perspective. God hates sinful actions, and we must hate sin too. First in our own lives, and then in the lives of others.
But how do we demonstrate that we hate sin? Take a look at these pictures.
Do you think that these people who are picketing the sin of others in their so called "love crusades" are looking on these people they are condemning with perfect eyes? (their focus is that homosexuality has destroyed America, caused the hurricanes, wars, deaths of many soldiers, and the 9/11 attacks. While God does punish a nation for it's wickedness, is this the best way to get the point across) I DON'T THINK SO!
Matthew 7 reminds us to look at our own deceitfully wicked hearts and lives before we go trying to pry a speck of sin out of someone else's life. Yes, people need to be told that Hell is real, and that sin results in death and hell, but we can't leave out the hope of Jesus in all of that. The hope of Jesus dying on that cross for our sins can say so much more than a picket sign ever will!
Now, you might be saying, "wow! I can't believe those people would be so hateful!" But wait a minute. Remember to look at yourself first. You may have never grabbed up a picket sign and shoved it in the face of a classmate saying with hate condemning them to hell, but we often look down on people with disdain and with "picket signs of the mind" despising people for who they are and what they stand for. But we are not looking with perfect eyes and a perfect heart. Too often we move from hating sin to hating the sinner.
God, however, can look on us with perfect eyes and a perfect heart. He can see our sin and truthfully say I Hate your sin, but I love you enough to provide a way out if you will just receive it. That's what this whole week is about! Easter...the sacrifice of the perfect lamb, taking on all the nasty sins of the world, to the point that God had to turn away from his only son because He cannot look on sin.
Why?
Because God loves us enough to become man and empty himself and die for his creation.
That's true love for a sinner like me.
"Come Lord Jesus" by Andrew Peterson
Copyright © 2000 New Spring Publishing (ASCAP)
Tonight in the line of the merchandise store
While they were packing up my bags
I saw the pictures of the prophets of the picket signs
Screaming, "God hates fags"
And it feels like the church isn't anything more
Than the second coming of the Pharisees
Scrubbing each other 'til their tombs are white
They chisel epitaphs of piety
Oh, there's a burning down inside of me
'Cause the battle seems so lost
And it's raging on so silently
We forget it's being fought
So, Amen, Come, Lord Jesus, Amen
Oh, Amen, Come, Lord Jesus, Amen
It's taken me years in the race just to get this far
Still there is no end in sight, there's no end in sight
'Cause I've carried my cross into dens of the wicked
And you know I blended in just fine
Well, I'm weak and I'm weary of breaking His heart
With the cycle of my sin, of my sin
Still He turns His face to me and I kiss it
Just to betray Him once again
Well, I've got oceans down inside of me
I can feel the billows roll
With the mercy that comes thundering
O'er the waters of my soul
Tonight in the light of the gathering rain
I could hear creation groan
And a sigh rose up from the streets of the city
To the foot of Heaven's throne
Oh, and the people hear the sound of a sweet refrain
An absolution in the fray, in the fray
It tells of the death of the One for the lives of the many
More than any picket sign could say
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