We are commanded in scripture to not love the world. We must be in the world, but we cannot be part of it. If we love the world then we will also take on a love for the things above that God hates. We must love what God loves and hate what He hates. He hates compromise with the world and its ways. We must do the same.
9 For You are Yahweh Most High over all the earth;
You are exalted far above all gods.
10 Hate evil, you who love Yahweh,
Who keeps the souls of His holy ones;
He delivers them from the hand of the wicked.
11 Light is sown for the righteous
And gladness for the upright in heart.
12 Be glad in Yahweh, you righteous ones,
And give thanks for the remembrance of His holy name. Psalms 97:9-12 (LSB)
I saw a bumper sticker on a SUV the other day. I had seen this particular bumper sticker before so I was not surprised by it. However, for some reason it caused me to focus on the message it was attempting to convey. The bumper sticker read, “Hate is not a family value.” Now, I know and I am sure most of you know that that statement is meant to cause those who stand firm for family values and parental rights pertaining to the exposing of their children to the Homosexual agenda in school or any other public institution to become intimidated. The message conveys the idea that those taking this stance are expressing hatred towards people who only want to be accepted for how God made them. Of course, the Bible clearly teaches us that that concept is a lie and that Homosexuality is a set of perverse, sinful, sexual behaviors that are condemned by God as an abomination. It also says that any who practice them will not inherit the Kingdom of God.
The Apostle John wrote in 1 John 4:11 that God is love and in vv7-8 he states emphatically that genuine Christians will also be partakers and givers of that same love. However, love cannot exist in a vacuum. If one loves, then he or she will also hate. The hate will be directed at anything or anyone who threatens the object of that love. God does hate and all who belong to Him are called to hate what He hates. The following is a list from the book of Proverbs of some things that God hates.
16 There are six things which Yahweh hates,
Even 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 thoughts,
Feet that hasten to run to evil,
19 A false witness who breathes out lies,
And one who spreads strife among brothers.
20 My son, observe the commandment of your father
And do not abandon the law of your mother; Proverbs 6:16-20 (LSB)
God hates a proud look. This is a manifestation of pride. In Hebrew this phrase, “haughty eyes,” literally means “lofty eyes.” The prideful has his or her nose in the air and their eyes uplifted. When pride fills the heart, it does manifest itself in the mannerisms of the person. God hates those who disdain everyone and everything. The sin of pride is probably listed here in this passage first because it is the root of all disobedience and rebellion against God. When I was in the US Navy in the early 1970’s, I was stationed at the Bureau of Naval Personnel in our nation’s capital. There was a fellow who worked in another department on a floor above ours who was probably the most arrogant person I have ever met. He was also blatantly homosexual. The few times I had to deal with him, he made sure I understood how inferior I was to him by not doing his job, but instead deliberately giving me the run around.
When I first arrived at that station in November 1973, I was considered a ‘boot’ so I had to do all of the unpleasant things that those who were there before me did not want to do. That included dealing with that person in question. However, unlike those who passed this task on to me, I was probably just as arrogant as him and had a very short fuse. I was not a believer at that time and so much of my behavior back then is painful for me to recount. What I did was go talk to my Chief. As I spoke to him, I did not know that the Commander who was over us could hear our conversation. I told my Chief about the runaround that fellow gave us every time we tried to get information for our work from his department. Those over him were always upset with us because they had to continually redo orders that should have been given to us each day, but the process was being short circuited by this fellow when we tried to get help with understanding what the detailer was actually requesting. My Chief cleared his throat and I stopped complaining because we both detected our commanding officer entering the office. He asked which department was the problem and whom it was that was doing this. My Chief looked at me and I answered the question.