THE VERSE
O you who love the LORD, hate evil! He preserves the lives of his saints; he delivers them from the hand of the wicked.~Psalm 97:10
THE THOUGHT
"O you who love the LORD, hate evil!" There is no room in the life of a Christian for two allegiances. Jesus Himself told us that the heart can only have one master. Either you love the Lord and have been captured by His grace and glory... or you haven't. Christians are called to hate evil, and flee from it in pursuit of righteousness and truth.There are two main reasons that we are supposed to hate evil. Most importantly, sin robs God of the glory that is due His name. As Christians, our highest calling, allegiance, and joy is to make much of God in our lives. Sin, by its very nature, is "falling short of the glory of God" and turning away from Him to the promise of pleasure elsewhere.
Secondly, sin robs us of our joy. The power of sin is in its promise of pleasure, but Satan never makes good on that promise. Sure, sin usually feels good at the time- that's why we do it, after all- but when unchecked it will always leave us bankrupt and broken. We must pursue the biblical mandate to maximize our joy by fleeing evil and pursuing God as our all-satisfying treasure. "Rejoice in the Lord always! I say it again: Rejoice!"
THE PRAYER
Holy Spirit, Help me to flee sin and pursue righteousness. I have nothing holy or strong in me that can stand for You; I am desperate need of Your grace. Thank you for saving me and applying Christ's work to my life; please satisfy me with His steadfast love so that I can better resist the empty lures of sin.EXTENDED READING
John 14:15-171 Timothy 6:11-16
1 John 5:1-5
THE QUOTE
"It is the spirit of a truly godly man to prefer God before all other things, either in heaven or on earth." ~Jonathan Edwards
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