The scripture says so much about love. It is in literally every book of the Bible. Could you imagine the love Adam had for God? David also spoke of His love for God in Psalm 18.1— “I will love thee, O Lord, my strength.” We are encouraged and provoked to love God, His people, and His things from Prophets, Priests, Kings, and on occasion from God Himself. Then we roll into the New Testament where Jesus himself makes it the modus operandi of His ministry, our lives as disciples, and therefore our ministry as churches. It defines our identity in Him, but our love one to another. It’s the difference maker of the New Testament church in John 15, Galatians 5, and frankly throughout every chapter of the New Testament. It’s the majority theme of First, Second, and Third John. Jesus said to love your neighbor in Matthew 22. He even said to love your enemy in Matthew 5.44. Love is definitely a character of God and to be shown by us—with tenacity and fervor!
Did you also know we’re encouraged to hate? Let me start in Ecclesiastes 12.13-14 with—“Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.” To fear the Lord is to pick a side. To serve Him, love Him, and worship Him is to say ‘I am with HIm’. Now where this is Proverbs 8.13— “The fear of the Lord is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.” And there you have it. If you are going to love God, worship God, and therefore fear the Lord—you will also have to hate what He hates. Yes, we have to hate really good what God hates!
Proverbs 8.13 makes it pretty clear doesn’t it. The fear of the Lord is to hate evil. Do you? Do you hate the evil you do? Do you hate the evil of the world? I mean really hate? Hate it like God does? The word for hate in Hebrew is שָׂנֵא (saw-nay’) which is to literally hate, detest, and be hostile towards. That’s not complicated is it? Do we hate like He does? Or do we play a little here and there with the very things we should be hating? Lately there is a trend towards more and more voyeurism when it comes to the things we should turn our eyes from. Specifically from the Proverbs 8.13 verse they are: “evil”; “pride”; “arrogancy”; “the evil way”; and “the froward mouth” And yes, before you ask, we are going to look freshly at each of those words.
Evil. Evil is pretty much what it sounds like—evil, bad, wicked, harmful. Do you hate that? Do you hate that which is wicked or do you stare at it? Stream a video of it? Watch endless reels of it? The grammar of the verse explains the definition of “evil” for us, by giving us a couple of words…
Pride. Pride is the first thing mentioned that is evil. This is something we should hate! Yet today even believers celebrate it. It is no longer just tucked in the hearts of believers… it has become to define them. When you watch something from this world, do you celebrate the one who is, by pride, seeking themselves as the victor? Is the prideful person the hero of your story? Or have you decided to hate what God hates?
Arrogancy. Arrogance is an object of hate for God. He…well…hates it. The word (gaw-ohn’) means the show of pride, majesty, exaltation, arrogance. It literally means “ornament”. As in a person’s own pomp, personal lifting of majesty. Lifting themselves up their own excellency. It was a word they used at the time to denote something is “swollen”. Anyone have a problem with that? Again we live in a time where ‘one-up-man-ship’ defines the average person. ‘You have some outward show of pride…well wait until you get a load of this!’ How sad. This is the same as when the scripture says “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall (Proverbs 16.18). Ouch! How about Proverbs 18.12— “Before destruction the heart of man is haughty, and before honour is humility.” You’re pick! Which would you rather have: “destruction” or “honor”? Hate this very well!
The Evil Way. This one is interesting. It is derek (deh’-rek) and means a road or path. When one goes on a journey or the manner in which they conduct themselves on that journey is “the way”. The course of their life, their conduct and their conversations on that path. Often used as- “along the way”. So as you travel your life path, along the way how do you conduct yourself, your mouth, your eyes, your mind? This is “the way”. In our verse it says “the evil way”. Is your way one that is not honoring to God? Do you hate that? Enough to change? How about others? Do you mind being around this in others? Do you hate it like God hates it? Enough to pray for them? Enough to separate if you had to? What does God say about it? He said if you love or fear me—you hate this! And last but not least…
The Froward Mouth. No hidden meaning here, it’s talking about your mouth. It is talking about other’s mouths. How is your’s? Do you allow others to talk this way around you? Have you grown used to it? What exactly does “Froward” mean? Good question. It means primarily “perverse”. But it can mean anything from perverse to deceitful. It’s words of perverseness, fraudulence, darkness, crooked, and devious. God hates this! Do you?
I read in a book more than twenty years ago about ‘earning a black belt in hate’. I’ve used that literally hundreds of times helping others in their walk. And I’ve learned that when things aren’t as they need to be in my spiritual walk, it always comes back to this. If we are going to claim to be followers of Jesus Christ, we must walk as He walked and talk as He talked.
Hate much? Get good at it. Hate the right things and hate it with white hot fervor! Jesus died for these things. You know He hasn’t changed a bit, right? He still hates this stuff with an infinite, perfect hate. Do you? Here is where you start: 1 Peter 3.11— “Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it.”
That’s it. Run! Run hard and fast from evil. That is what “eschew means”. Do not even get close to it. Don’t try to fix it, convert it, or make it better… run! But don’t just do that, you also need to “do good”. If you don’t replace the bad influences and habits with good, then you are destined to fill the void with way more bad! The vacuum will fill with worse things or habits if you’re not careful. So do good. What is good? Easy—obey God! Do what He tells you and not what you want. You know that’s where this is coming from right? It’s inside you. Yes, you should separate from this world of perversion and wickedness, but the only reason it appeals to you is because you grew used to it. That’s right, after salvation you have allowed yourself all the excuses and exposure needed to be just like all the other unsaved people out there. And that is why you are so miserable! The Holy Spirit is leaning hard in you to stop. He wrote it in First Peter through the Apostle Peter, and He is saying within you now— Run!
Last, “seek peace, and ensue it”. 1 Peter 3.11 is a direct quote from Psalm 34.14—“Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it.” Says the exact same thing. Ensue is pursue. You must “pursue peace”. Long for it. Want it more than anything. This troubled world is giving you a troubled spirit. it isn’t worth it believer! Seek the peace that only God gives when we wholly surrender. Run from the things that God hates. Get them out of your life as fast as possible. Seek the peace God can give and hate the traps you have fallen for. Don’t accept your own excuses any more. Set new standards for your home, for your mouth, for your life. God is worth it. Love Him enough to hate what He hates.