God Is Love, But…
God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 5:8
There is a tendency to focus only on the love of God to the exclusion of the other side of God’s nature. Indeed, it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Lord.
God loves, but He also hates. In fact, love would be sentimental were it not for its opposite, hate. We are told in the Scriptures that God hates divorces, that He hates liars, a proud and haughty look, and all other manifestations of sin. God has promised to judge sin with the fierceness of his wrath (see Proverbs 6:16–19).
David said, “I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin” (Psalm 32:5). It is easy to see from this verse that God does not take sin lightly.
We live in an age when sin is winked at and where God is treated as one who is indulgent, soft-hearted and understanding, and tolerant of those who break His commandments. People today find it difficult to believe that God hates anything, much less sin.
Dr. Karl Menninger correctly observed the absence of a concept of sin in our contemporary culture when he wrote the book Whatever Became of Sin? I will tell you that God has not forgotten about sin, though some men may be pretending it does not exist.
The reason God hates sin is that it is sin which, left unforgiven, sends men and women out into a timeless eternity in hell. God is not willing that any should perish, but that all might come to a knowledge of Him.
What are you doing about sin? Have you confessed your sin to God and received Christ as your Savior? If you are already a Christian, have you let sin creep back into your life so that you are no longer a vessel of honor to God?
Confess your sin today. Don’t wait. Receive God’s forgiveness and restoration so that you might be of use to Him and enjoy His love.
Our Father and our God, faithful and righteous Judge, I come before You in repentance and sorrow. I never want to sin against You, O Lord, and yet I miss the mark so often. Please forgive me, Father, and never let me go. When I start to stray, reach out Your hand and pull me gently back to the Way. Through Christ. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).