Upper Loft Meditation - Proverbs 8

“To fear the LORD is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech.” - Proverts 8:13

There is good hate. We need to hate more! We are exhorted to love the Lord and to hate evil. Too often we focus on the first and ignore the second. Some will say, “hating evil pales in importance next to loving Jesus!” This exhortation to love and hate is not an either/or calling.

One day children came home with a movie a friend had loaned them. The father asked, “Is it a good movie? There are no bad parts?” The children replied, “Our friend said it is a REALLY good movie.” The oldest said, “Well, Dad, there are a couple bad parts. But it is a REALLLLLY good movie!” Dad replied, “Ok, if you think it is good for you, you can watch it.”

Dad went to the kitchen to make fudge brownies. Soon the smell of the brownies began to captivate the kids in the other room. “Are the brownies ready yet?” Moments later Dad brought a plate of hot brownies into the room. “I hope you enjoy these brownies - I put in all the normal good stuff, sugar, cocoa, chocolate chips, and then I added in just a little bit of dog poop from the backyard. But don’t worry - there’s just a little bit in there, the rest is REALLY good!” (1)

We tolerate evil until we are personally confronted with it. The more you tolerate evil, the less you fear the Lord. The more you continue to ignore evil, the less you know the living God.

1 - Sermon by Don Jaques - May 2005