Stuff God Hates...

Throughout the book of Proverbs, there are some interesting lists.  One of them is found in Proverbs 6:16-19, "There are six things the Lord hates--no, seven things he detests".  Since God apparently is seriously annoyed by some things--we might want to be aware of what they are.  I mean, none of us wants to be on the business end of God's wrath.  Angering God is exponentially worse than taking a bone away from my dog, Gavin--and I don't do that--ever!

Here is the proverbial list of things that God detests:

1. Haughty Eyes: self-righteous arrogance.  I don't know if you can see pride in someones eyes or not but you can certainly see it in the way that they look at other people.  To ever think that you are better than someone else is to say that God's creation is imperfect and flawed.

2. A Lying Tongue: deceitful and exaggerated speech.  We are to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.  There is no place for exaggerating or for minimizing among God's people.  Just tell the truth--in love!

3. Hands that Kill the Innocent:  literally kill and I think verbally kill.  Most often we kill the innocent by putting them down or by damaging their reputation.  This happens all the time in politics.  It also happens in the church.  Identify a minister who is being mightily used of God and you will find more critics than you can count.

4. A Heart that Plots Evil.  The ends do not justify the means.  To attempt to accomplish a worthy and noble goal by evil means is to be evil.  For example to get together with your friends in order to talk down (pray for?  or gossip?) an enemy is to commit evil.  Jesus says to TALK TO THEM not TALK ABOUT THEM.

5. Feet that Race to do Wrong.  Sometimes it just seems fun to do wrong--or to destroy someone.  It can be exciting.  We race to do it because it's exciting.  I've been on the receiving end of, "a race to do wrong"--at least from my perspective.  I know what it feels like to see people excited and energized as they prepare for a lynching.

6. A False Witness who Pours out Lies.  Exaggeration is lying.  Minimizing is lying.  Twisting the truth is lying.  A "white lie" is a lie.  Sharing the truth without the context is lying.

7. A Person who Sows Discord Among Brothers.  God hates division.  Woe to the person who turns brother against brother.  There is no need to persuade a person against another.  It would be much better to be a peace-maker.

Now the truth is that you have and I have done all of these things at one time or another.  And though God HATES the stuff we do--somehow through the sacrificial death of Jesus--He LOVES us.  Listen to this:  "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.  Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from THE WRATH OF GOD through Him.  For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life" (Romans 5:8-10).