Love’s Opposite - The One Year Unlocking the Bible Devotional
Love’s Opposite
Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Romans 12:9
Love and hate are often found together in the Bible because they’re two sides of the same coin. If we do not hate what is evil, then there’s no sincerity in our claim to love. The opposite of love is not hatred but indifference. True love hates all that destroys the one who is loved.
In our journey through the Bible’s story, we have discovered that God is love—he is absolutely committed to seeking the good of all that he has made. The Bible also tells us God is holy—he is absolutely opposed to anything that would destroy the objects of his love. God’s holiness is a dimension of his love. In the same way, we cannot love others without at the same time hating what would destroy them.
I will never forget being with a family whose son was dying of cancer. The boy’s mother said to me, “I hate this cancer.” She said it with some venom, and understandably so. She hated what was destroying the object of her love.
Another lady’s husband is an alcoholic. Over the years, alcohol has destroyed his life and every area of their marriage. She has remained loyal to him at great personal cost. One day she said to me, “I love him, but I hate what he’s become.” Her hatred of what was destroying her husband and of what he has become is a component of her love. The day she stops hating what he has become is the day she stops loving him.
God loves the world, and he hates all that destroys it. He hates what sin has done to us, precisely because he loves us. That’s why God cannot and will not leave the world as it is; to do so would be a denial of love. Because God loves the world, he relentlessly opposes evil. God hates evil; he cannot be indifferent to it.
It’s helpful to regularly ask yourself, According to the Bible, does God love this or hate it? If you choose to love what God hates, then you’re taking sides against him, and when you do that, you’re heading down a path that leads to destruction.
For further reading, see Proverbs 6
