“You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions” (Hebrews 1:9, English Standard Version).
When you hate something, do you want to keep it around? Do you wish you had the thing you hate?
I hate COVID-19. My wife and I had mild cases early into the pandemic. We also know people who endured serious cases of the disease. Some spent days or weeks in ICU. Some never made it out of the hospital. I hate this disease and want to see it become a thing of the past.
I also hate cancer. I watched my sister take her final breaths after battling lung cancer. Several years earlier, the same disease spread rapidly through my father’s body, robbing him of vitality. I have known many others who have had different kinds of cancer: Some survived, but too many did not. Others seem to gain victory over the disease only to see it rear its ugliness somewhere else in their bodies.
I will do what I can to avoid catching COVID-19. I will do what I can to prevent cancer. I will take all reasonable actions to avoid having these things in my life. I wish such diseases would just go to hell.
I suspect many of you who are reading this share my contempt for these diseases. You might want to add a few more to the list. In each case, I am sure you would do whatever you can to avoid the thing you hate. If you could eradicate it from the world, you would.
Scripture says Jesus loves righteousness and hates lawlessness, wickedness, and evil. He came to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8). He did not come to play games. He did not come to snicker at sin or shrug it off as “not a big deal.” He hated sin more than He loved His earthly life. He was willing to die to destroy the works of Satan. He refused to give in to temptation for even a moment:
“For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:13, New American Standard Bible).
Jesus knew temptation. He hated sin. He would not compromise with it for a moment.
What about those of us who call ourselves Christians and claim to follow Jesus? Do we hate sin the same way we hate disease or discomfort? Do we really want nothing to do with it? Do we want to avoid it like the plague that it is?
Or, do we obey God begrudgingly? “I’m not going to do that, because Jesus told me not too,” we say, while we think, “Oh, that was so much fun back in the day! I wish I could still do that!” Do you watch movies or television shows that glorify the sins you used to commit before you came to Christ? Do you laugh and joke about those old sins? Do you daydream about them?
Do we love righteousness and hate wickedness, or do we feign righteousness and crave just a little mischief?
Many of us have taken drastic action to avoid COVID-19 over the past 13 months. Some of my friends still refuse to go to diners or restaurants, even when strict safety precautions are followed. They never leave their house without a mask. They almost obsessively wash and sanitize their hands. They are willing to make what seem like extreme sacrifices to avoid the disease. I know other people who also take what seem like extreme sacrifices to avoid cancer or heart disease. They hate the disease enough to make health their all-consuming passion.
Are we ready to vaccinate ourselves against sin, lawlessness, wickedness, and immorality? Do we love God and His righteousness enough that we will pursue it with passion?
“Almighty and eternal God, so draw our hearts to thee, so guide our minds, so fill our imaginations, so control our wills, that we may be wholly thine, utterly devoted unto thee; and then use us, we pray thee, as thou wilt, and always to thy glory and the welfare of thy people; through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen” (Book of Common Prayer).
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Copyright © 2021 Michael E. Lynch. All rights reserved.
