Dear Church Family,July 4th is just over a week away, and it is one of my favorite times of the year that we celebrate as a country. I love watching fireworks and hearing the loud explosions that go along with them. My heart still aches for the folks of the Charleston, SC church who were impacted by an act of hatred. For some of them, I’m sure a sense of “freedom” was taken away from them because of this hatred.
This caused me to ask myself, “When is it right to hate?” I mean, since I was a child I was taught not to hate. So I thought I would do a word study in scripture on hate. Here is what I found.
Psalms 97:10 states, “Let those who love the Lord hate evil, for he guards the lives of his faithful ones and delivers them from the hand of the wicked.”
I’ve learned that even God hates some things. Proverbs 6:16-19, 16 There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him: 17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, 18 a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, 19 a false witness who pours out lies and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers.
Louie Bustle was a missionary in the Church of the Nazarene and he once stated, "If you will live a life of holiness, you will learn to hate some things – not people, but things. You must hate evil and sin or it will be impossible to love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.”
The past two weeks we have been focusing on letting go of some of the excess baggage that we carry in our lives. What evil do you need to “hate” in order to get rid of some of the baggage that you have been clinging too? (If you have missed either of the last two weeks of messages you can click HERE to listen to the messages.)
Who do you need to forgive? What addiction, hurts, habits, hang-ups, personality traits, do you need to be set free from in order to allow God to take away the baggage and shape you into His likeness, so you can experience true freedom in Christ?
Know that you are loved and prayed for.
Pastor Dave McGaffey
This caused me to ask myself, “When is it right to hate?” I mean, since I was a child I was taught not to hate. So I thought I would do a word study in scripture on hate. Here is what I found.
Psalms 97:10 states, “Let those who love the Lord hate evil, for he guards the lives of his faithful ones and delivers them from the hand of the wicked.”
I’ve learned that even God hates some things. Proverbs 6:16-19, 16 There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him: 17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, 18 a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, 19 a false witness who pours out lies and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers.
Louie Bustle was a missionary in the Church of the Nazarene and he once stated, "If you will live a life of holiness, you will learn to hate some things – not people, but things. You must hate evil and sin or it will be impossible to love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.”
The past two weeks we have been focusing on letting go of some of the excess baggage that we carry in our lives. What evil do you need to “hate” in order to get rid of some of the baggage that you have been clinging too? (If you have missed either of the last two weeks of messages you can click HERE to listen to the messages.)
Who do you need to forgive? What addiction, hurts, habits, hang-ups, personality traits, do you need to be set free from in order to allow God to take away the baggage and shape you into His likeness, so you can experience true freedom in Christ?
Know that you are loved and prayed for.
Pastor Dave McGaffey
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