Psalm 97:10a - O you who love the Lord, hate evil!
I love God. I really do. But I don't hate evil. Not all the time. It should be easy to hate. Evil is what has separated me from God. Life is the journey back to restoration with God. Evil is what makes that journey difficult. But I tolerate evil. I accept it into my own life.
Psalm 115:10 - The heavens are the Lord's heavens, but the earth he has given to the children of man.
I hate it when my kids abuse the gifts I give them. When they don't understand the value of it. They leave dolls outside, bang baseball bats on the ground, and generally have little to no concept of the value of things or the sacrifices made so that they can have things. I think that's how we treat the earth. God's gift to us, we abuse and use for our enjoyment with no thought as to how it makes God feel when we abuse it.
John 15:3-4 - Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.
I'm already made clean, all I have to do now is rest in Jesus. Yet I'm constantly consumed with doing instead of being. Being who God made me to be. Being who I am. Being with Him. I focus instead on the doing. On behavior modification. On trying to do better instead of just be better.
God, may I see myself for who I am in You: clean. Whole. Restored. May I hate evil, respect your creation, and may I rest in your presence.
I love you.
JM
