How many kids growing up said, “I hate peas!” I was never a big fan myself. How about liver and onions? Blech. It’s odd. I have never liked liver but do enjoy liverwurst. Strange, huh? How about you? Did you have a least favorite food growing up? My wife Renée tells the story of how she hated pea soup. Yet, her dad insisted that she had to sit at the dinner table until she finished it. She says, “Do you know what’s worse than hot pea soup? Cold pea soup.”
Often, when a child says, “I hate lima beans!” their mom or dad corrects them, saying, “We don’t use the word ‘hate’ in this house. We say, ‘intensely dislike.’” For many, hate seems too harsh a word. I mean Christians are a people of love, right? Jesus said, “…I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples” (John 13:34-35). Yes, we are people of love. However, one does not prohibit the other. In Romans 12:9 the Bible tells us to, “Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good.” There are some things that even God hates. No, hate is not too harsh a word for Him.
God hates sin. Solomon writes in Proverbs, “There are six things the Lord hates – no, seven things he detests: haughty eyes (haughty eyes means, “A proud look [the attitude that makes one overestimate oneself and discount others]”), a lying tongue, hands that kill the innocent, a heart that plots evil, feet that race to do wrong, a false witness who pours out lies, a person who sows discord in a family” (Proverbs 6:16-19).
All sin is detestable to the LORD. This is why sinful people cannot be in a close relationship with the LORD without the purifying blood of Jesus. “O God, you take no pleasure in wickedness; you cannot tolerate the sins of the wicked. Therefore, the proud may not stand in your presence, for you hate all who do evil” (Psalm 5:4-5).
We too should hate sin. Now, hating sin in other people is easy. We are all very good at finding the speck in our neighbor’s eye, even while a log is embedded in our own. Hating our own sin is a bit harder but critical to our salvation. First, we need to accept the fact that we have sinned. “If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth” (1 John 1:8). Even after we’ve been saved. We still sin. The apostle Paul acknowledged this reality. “I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate,” Paul writes. “I want to do what is right, but I can’t. I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway” (Romans 7:15, 18-19). Yes, we still sin after we’ve been saved. The difference is we no longer love our sin. We hate the impurity within us and engage in a spiritual battle to defeat it every single day. People have asked me, “Pastor, how do I know if I am saved?” I tell them, “If you are committed to battling your sin. That is iron-clad evidence of your regeneration. That you are saved – born again.”
Yes, God hates sin. From pride to lying to murder, and other sinful acts and thoughts, evil is detestable to the LORD. Likewise, we can intensely dislike broccoli, Brussels sprouts, or okra but we should hate sin – ours and anyone else’s. At the same time, it’s critical we also need to remember, “…if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness” (1 John 1:9).
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