.jpeg)
PROVERBS 28:4 declares.....
"Those who forsake the law praise the wicked, but those who keep the law
strive with them." (Do note the word "strive.") In the N. T. Jude
admonished us to "earnestly contend" for the faith. But, nowadays, I fear too many,
IN THE NAME OF LOVE, are capitulating, compromising and going soft toward sin. But, let us be reminded, the thrice holy God is not pleased and neither is the Son, Jesus, who vehemently excoriated the religious hypocrites of His day (Matthew 23). Acutually, and curiously, God hates both sin AND the sinner. Psalm 5:5-6 says, "The boastful shall not
stand before Your eyes; You hate all who do iniquity. You destroy those who
speak falsehood;
The Lord abhors the man of bloodshed and deceit." HE has the the capacity
to love and hate a sinner simultaneously. In dying for sinners Jesus shed His
blood to get sin out of the way. He was striving against sin and the devil on
the cross. It was God taking issue with sin but He did it both redemptively (in
love) while at the same time remaining a holy God, hating all that necessitated the
death of His only begotten Son. And, while we can't love and hate sin and
sinners at one and the same time, we can love them both practically and redemptively
but never at the expense of truth and holiness. We must THRIVE in love but at
the same time STRIVE for what is right. It's easy to keep one ball in the air. But, we must be strong in the Lord keeping two balls going at the same time, loving
but hating all that nailed Jesus to the cross. The wise man said, “The fear of
the Lord is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way and the
perverted mouth, I hate" - Prov. 8:13. God help us not to use
"love" as an excuse to soften toward that which necessitated the
gruesome death of His Son. Such 'softening' makes us akin to the liberal
political philosophy that tries to negotiate with a mortal enemy instead of
believing such an enemy must be decommissioned. ALL sin nailed Jesus to a cruel cross. Believers in Jesus are called to crucify the flesh and the lusts thereof. Ironically, at any particular time, Christians will heatedly lash out at 'the sin of the moment' (just as is rightfully done in the current homosexual crisis) while at the same time continuing in a host of other iniquities, often conveniently excused and/or condoned. Again, "the Lord abhors the man... of deceit." Again, sin is sin, and while living lovingly, we must never 'go soft' rationalizing and condoning that which caused our Savior to die the death of all deaths. We must keep the 'balls' of love and hate in the air at one and the same time. - rdc
