Abhor Evil
Romans 12:9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good.
To abhor something means to regard it with disgust and hatred. The actual Greek meaning is to detest utterly.
This statement is in step with what is spoken in the Psalms and Proverbs.
Psalm 97:10 You who love the LORD, hate evil! He preserves the souls of His saints; He delivers them out of the hand of the wicked.
Proverbs 8:13 The fear of the LORD is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverse mouth I hate.
Yes, it is true that God never changes, and He does not need to repent because He makes no mistakes and is sinless and perfect in all His ways. God is holy. He has nothing He needs to apologize for.
When the Bible speaks of the fear of the Lord, it is not talking about being afraid of God. It communicates the wisdom of respecting and honoring God, which begins with hating evil.
Hating evil is something God does because of how good and perfect He is and how destructive evil is. Evil devalues and seeks to destroy all that is good and holy. It is not the New Covenant to teach a tolerance of evil. With all of its grace, the New Covenant does not condone evil.
The New Covenant promotes all that is good by the goodness of God on display through Jesus, His Son.
Evil cannot be pretended away. Nor can it be allowed to exist without being utterly detested and opposed.
The basis of evil is described for us in Scripture.
Jeremiah 18:12 And they said, “That is hopeless! So we will walk according to our own plans, and we will everyone obey the dictates of his evil heart.”
Hebrews 3:12 Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God;
When they think of evil, many imagine the wickedness of Satanism or some other very debased example but ignore the evil of a heart of unbelief.
I abhor unbelief because it defies the testimony of God’s goodness, ability, and willingness. It questions all the good God has already done and desires to do and the great things He wants to accomplish through His church.
God was angry with the generation of Israel that first came out of Egypt because they would not believe His promise to give them an inheritance of rest. They could have known rest but questioned God when they gave more credence to their circumstances than they did to His word of promise. The New Covenant does not condone unbelief, as it requires belief to receive it.
Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
God is a rewarder! Those who believe diligently seek Him. I encourage you today to abhor what is evil. Unbelief is evil! Let’s exercise the fear of the Lord together and tell unbelief to take a hike and begin to lay hold on His word of promise and diligently seek and hope like we are created to in Christ.
