"Love the sinner, hate the sin." has been a popular aphorism for years. Some are trying to replace that with, "Love the sinner, why don't you hate your own sin?"
When I first saw the latter statement, I thought, we do.
I've had my fair share of moments of, "I don't really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don't do it. Instead, I do what I hate." (Romans 7:15, NLT)
Hating all sin (ours and someone else's) does not diminish the fact that our love for people remains intact.
For example, when one of my children smack the other one. I hate their actions but my love for them is not diminished to any degree. The same holds true for our Father.
We are His dear children. Made in His image. Imitating Him. His unfailing, unchanging love flowing through us enables us to love people while hating sin. We are not pretending to love or choosing to only love who we decide is "worthy" but we truly love others. True love covers a multitude of faults. (1 Peter 4:8)
What about you? Please let us know how a particular person truly loved you while hating sin.
(Ephesians 5:1)
(Genesis 1:27)
(1 John 4:8)
(Malachi 3:6)
No comments:
Post a Comment