Hate the Sin

Psalm 97:10 - You who love the Lord, hate evil!  He protects the lives of His godly people and rescues them from the power of the wicked.

God has commanded us to hate the wickedness and evil that turns our hearts away from Him.  He will always protect those who seek His righteousness over sinful pleasures.

But that doesn't mean we are supposed to reject the sinner.  God loves us all, and we are all sinners.  So we have no right to reject the sinners, because then we'd be rejecting ourselves.  Not only that, we would be saying that it is our business to judge who is worthy of having a relationship with God.  And that's just dangerous ground to be treading on.

Instead of rejecting the sinner, we need to love those who sin without knowing Christ.  We need to share the Word of God with them.  And not just scripture, but our lives as well.  We have to do it with no fear of rejection.  Paul talked regularly about being bold (2 Corinthians 3:12).  He also talked about not having any fear (2 Timothy 1:7).  We should never be afraid to share His Word with others.  We should never be afraid to live our lives the way God is telling us to.

I have a friend that doesn't know Christ.  He was raised Catholic, and never developed a relationship with Jesus Christ.  He has said before that he knows he's a sinner, but he doesn't really care.  I told him, God doesn't expect you to be perfect.  He knows you're going to sin, because we all fall short.  But you're not supposed to be indifferent about it and enjoy the ride down.  I regularly pray for him, but beyond doing that and demonstrating God's love (as best I can) in the way I live, that's really all I can do for him.  I can't reject him because he's a proud sinner, that's not my business to do.  My business is to love boldly without fear.

Dear Lord, thank You for reminding me to reject the sin and not the sinner.  And for reminding me to love the sinner boldly without fear, for You have given us all a spirit of power and love (we're still working on the self-discipline one).  I pray that I will boldly share Your Word with others, both in Scripture and in how I live, so they can see the love You have for them, and how You protect the lives of those who seek Your righteousness.  For those who don't know You, I pray that Your Holy Spirit will work in their hearts, so that they will confess and repent of their sins, and seek You and Your will in all they do.  In Jesus' name I pray, Amen!



God Bless!!!