Hello Dear Ones,
I am writing this post to, hopefully, shed some truth on what, as Christians, we are called to love and hate. HATE??? Yes!
With so much talk about love, acceptance and tolerance, the lines of Truth have been continually moved and compromised. When that happens, we lose sight of the privilege to truly love those we are called to love; those who need Jesus.
As I have said many times before, I never discuss my opinion, as my opinion doesn’t matter nor does it set man free. The Bible says “that ye shall know the TRUTH (emphasis mine) and the TRUTH shall set you free” John 8:32. There is only one TRUTH, and that is the Word of God. There is no version, or interpretation, How God wrote it, how Jesus lived it, as the Word made Flesh, that is the Truth. “For I am the way, the truth and the life, no man sees the Father but by Me”. John 14:6
As followers of Christ, Christians, we must start by reconciling the adamant Truth of the Word. If we have not settled that in our own lives, then we are not on firm foundation, we are on ever shifting sands of world opinions, morals and standards. In the beginning was, and at the end will forever be, The Word.
Now that we have established that, I want to address the issues we are facing in society right now in regards to acceptance, tolerance and the use of “love” as a rationale behind said tolerance and acceptance.
Never before, in society, has sin (as we must call it what it is) been so widely praised, flaunted and lauded as “life style choices”. We panegyrize those who live this way, all the while cast aspersion on those who stand for Truth.
Whether it be the lifestyle choices of the LGBTQP (yes, pedophylia is now accepted) or the choice to murder unborn children, we are being indoctrinated to widely accept these choices under the auspice of “love”.
Aren’t we supposed to love, you may ask? Yes, we are. God, Himself, IS love. It is His love that caused Him to send Jesus, His only son, to the cross to die on our behalf. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him, shall not perish but have everlasting life”. John 3:16.
So, what is all of the confusion about loving those who are in sin? Why are christians being led astray by false love and grace teaching. It’s simple. Leaders have cherry picked scripture from the Word to be neutral. We have gender neutral in society and scripture neutral in the churches. As long as it can be taken as “whatever that translates to in your life” (oh, how many times I have heard that from the pulpits today!), we are ok with it. But, that is not going to help anyone, when all is said and done. God wrote HIs Word perfectly. “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” 2 Timothy3:16
ALL SCRIPTURE!! Not just the ones that gives us all the warm and fuzzies. The Word is a 2 edged sword. It corrects and heals.
Psalm 97:9 says “You who love the Lord, hate evil! He preserves the sounds of His saints; He delivers them out of the hand of the wicked.
What sent Jesus to the cross?? 2 things did. Gods love for His children AND His hate of sin. Because He loves us so much, He hates anything that separates Him from us. Sin is the only thing God hates because it keeps us from the relationship that He created us to have with Him from the onset of time.
When we identify with Him in name, we must also identify with Him in heart
To know and understand the heart of our Heavenly Father is to understand that He is all about reconciling us back to Him and anything that keeps us from that, is something that He cannot look upon. When Jesus was on the cross, He cried out “My Father, why has Thou forsaken me?”. The moment Jesus BECAME sin, God, because He is Holy and cannot look upon sin, had to turn away from His son. It was the first time the ever experienced separation. SIN separated the loving Father from His son. He hates sin so much, He had to turn away. That is why God hates sin, because it separates.
How does that translate to us here on earth? When we identify with Him in name, we must identify with Him in heart. The same love and hate that caused Him to send Christ to the cross, should be what drives us to love AND hate as well. LOVE people enough to speak life and truth and, equally, hate the sin that is separating them from The Father, enough to speak life and truth.
LOVE the person, HATE the sin. Acceptance and tolerance is not love. It is passive compliance. True love seeks to reconcile and bring life and freedom; and the only way we do that is with the Truth of Gods Word spoken and lived out with the heart of the One Who wrote it.
till next time……….Tamara Rae