Your Need of Hatred
Psalm 119:128
"Therefore I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right; and I hate every false way."
Everybody loves to be a winner. If you were to ask the average person who plays sports if they love to win, you would certainly get a positive response out of them. However, how much a person hates to lose will determine how great they become. If a person hates losing more than they love winning, then they will work harder to be sure that they win.
The Psalmist says, "...I hate every false way." The Psalmist loved truth, but he also had a hatred for things that were false. He says in verse 127,"Therefore I love thy commandments above gold: yea, above fine gold." He made it clear that he loved God's Word, but his love for truth caused him to have a hatred for untruth.
One of the biggest problems I see in Christianity is that people don't love truth enough to cause them to hate sin. I believe that one of the reasons sin is so prevalent in our churches is because there are people who want to do right, who say they love truth, but they don't have a true hatred for sin. One of the attributes of God is that He hates sin as much as He loves truth. God loves it when His people do right, but He hates it when they do wrong. Don't mistake God's hatred for sin as a hatred for the person who commits the sin. God loves the person, but He hates the sin that the person commits.
The proof of how much you love truth and hate sin can be found in whether you are willing to divide with loved ones over truth being attacked. Luke 14:26 says, "If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple." Is God saying here that we should hate our family? Not at all! What God is teaching in this verse is that if we love truth, then we will be willing to separate from our parents, spouse, siblings and friends when truth is attacked. In other words, you will hate sin so much that you will stand against the ones you love so that truth may prevail.
Let me ask you, are you one who sweeps sin under the carpet when it comes to your family? Are willing to allow sin to continue so that your family is not hurt? A love for truth will cause you to deal with sin, even if it is your own family. This is tough, but a love for truth will cause you to do the tough things. It is never joyful to have to deal with sin, but sin that is not dealt with will eventually hurt worse. That is why you need a hatred for sin. If you will hate sin to the same degree that God does, then it won't matter who has done wrong, you will deal with it and not sweep it under the carpet. I'm not saying that you should go about slandering people, what I am saying is that your hatred for sin will cause you to love truth so much that it will motivate you to properly deal with sin.
Christian, this world needs people who have a hatred for sin. Yes, I'm glad that you say that you love truth, but the test of your love for truth is how much do you hate sin? You will salvage more lives if you hate sin enough that false ways must be dealt with, even if it is your family. Don't ever be guilty of changing the definition of truth because a person near you has done wrong. By dealing with sin properly, you can help those near you in the best way. Always remember this, a great hatred for sin will produce a great love for truth.