7 THINGS GOD HATES

The 10 Commandments are instructions God has given us to live a good life. Proverbs 6:16-19 gives us the further, sharpened, information we need to live as good people. This study begins with verse sixteen: 

These six things the Lord hates, yes seven are an abomination to Him. 

When God hates something, it is because that thing harms His children. God does not only hate it when we harm someone else, it bothers him when we harm ourselves too. Cruel behavior traumatizes, and harmfully rewires the brain of the doer and the victim.

With His wisdom and experience with humanity, He knows that the following behavior is toxic. Not only to the poisoned but to the poisoner. For while kindness proliferates, unkindness festers. God hates to see us live in festering chaos and evil because he loves us. Therefore receive these seven things he hates as fatherly discipline.

1. A Proud Look: Arrogance is ignorance. Ignorance is neglect. Neglect is wasteful. God does not want us to waste our lives. We each have the potential and the opportunity to make an impact on the people and thus world around us. Arrogance obscures reality; it disallows us to see life at is actually is. When we have a distorted view of the world, how we behave and respond does not match how we should.

Our placement is specific. All around us and within us lie the materials we need to work God will into the world. God has provided, and continues to uncover those supplies, abilities and opportunities as we seek them out. God would much prefer to spend his time and effort exalting us. But when we waste our time exalting ourselves, we cause Him to become busy trying to humble us. For God works tirelessly to restore balance in our lives. If we are willing to discipline ourselves in humility, God ensures that we are rewarded.  

Luke 14:11 For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.

A prideful look dismisses another person's value. As God intricately, emphatically loves each of His children, He hates it when one of those children is disrespected. God has claimed humanity, each individual, even though He is fully aware of our proclivity for selfish behavior. To Him, it is nonsensical that we would dismiss a person because of a deficiency they have. Because we all have deficiencies, all except for Him, and He never dismisses anyone. 

A proud look does not acknowledge its tenuous grasp on that which it is so prideful about. Only faith secures blessing in our lives. Beauty, power, wealth are all useless but a proud man refuses to realize that until he is forced to. Until he is forced to realize that contentment, happiness, security never came from manipulative, self-motivated efforts.

2. A Lying Tongue: God instructs us to be honest and straightforward. If we adhere to the truth, it encourages us to live in a way we will not be ashamed to admit. If we have righteous intentions every time we act, justice will always defend our cause (even if no one else does).

Not only is lying a distortion, it is also ineffectual. A proper solution cannot come from a delusion. A problem cannot be tackled unless it is identified and captured whole. God wants us to have a clear and stable foundation whenever we begin something, especially a righteous life, because a house divided cannot stand, Mark 3:25. We cannot expect truth from others, or to have true, meaningful relationships if 

Lying inhibits the growth of a person, a relationship, a family, a community. 

3. Hands That Shed Innocent Blood: God has a gentle, yet fierce heart. He loves His children so much that when they are harmed, His indignation explodes. God has decided the tremendous value of innocent people; He has devoted His whole self to them. No person, institution, ideology or force should be so arrogant as to believe that they have a right to harm what He has claimed. 

4. A Heart That Devises Wicked Plans: God provides each individual purpose and potential while on earth. Those blessings should not be squandered away with useless, regressive, destructive wickedness. We can be productive here, impactful. God does not want us to waste our time and ability on ruining things and people. 

5. Feet That Are Swift in Running to Evil: We must never be eager to choose the deceptive choice, the greedy choice, or the cruel choice. Children of God understand that patience and humility generate blessings into their lives inevitably.

6. A False Witness Who Speaks Lies: God outlines the entire, detailed truth for us, Mark 13:23. If our Father sees no benefit to lying, why do we? We must never condemn others with untrue words. Communication is essential, and therefore out ability to communicate wisely and earnestly is one of our best tools and weapons to survive the world.

The seventh thing is an abomination to God.

7. One Who Sows Discord Among Brethren: The perpetuation of discord is regressive and foolish. The creation of discord is cruel. Peace on earth is tender and precious. In many places, it is rare. God considers it an abomination to create discord in the place of peace. The destruction of a loving relationship, friendship or opportunity deeply angers God. We must respect what is delicate and good, humanity's well-being depends on our ability to be respect sowers of harmony.

MILK + MEAT

"And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work."

God is a provider, a provider with a mission. The mission of the kingdom of God is the proliferation of blessing. Our lives are stocked by God with grace so that we become storehouses for those that would benefit from the blessings we have been given. Every blessing comes stamped with a name and God has a plan for the deliverance of that package to become your purpose. The verse above, 2 Corinthians 9:8, reminds us of that fact. God ensures that grace abounds toward us, not so that we can stockpile it, but so that we have sufficient product for our every good work. So that our ability to distribute is a net that can be cast far and wide.

So, if God is our provider, and provides with purpose, what does He provide? 

Milk and meat.

It would be easy to extract only half of the message from the above verse; in it, we learn that God will provide abundantly. That message, would be the milk of the verse, so to speak. But the meat of the message is the culmination of the verse; the meat is that we are given to... in order that we may give. 

Eventually, we must graduate from the elementary stage of faith; We must not nurse forever as infants, novices, when we should be advancing in faith. Every piece of scripture is like the opening verse in that it has deeper meaning, and is packed with purpose God plans for us to claim and fulfill. Meat He intends for us to eat after the preliminary provision of milk.

NEWBORN

At the beginning of our journey of faith, we are newly born to a lifestyle. "As newborns", 1 Peter 2:2 implores us, "desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow...". God provides milk for the newly born to faith; He grows us as if infants, sustained exclusively on His philosophy. For as newborns in the faith, we have cut off our former source: the philosophy of the world. 

For God's philosophy is entirely opposite the world's. Therefore everything is new:  new concepts, new character, new methods, new values. Scripture was designed for that newness; we read of the lives of many in the Bible who undertook that journey as well. Steadily, we learn about trust and perseverance and how messy that journey can be from people like Sarah and Joseph. We learn about hope and courage from people like Abraham and Moses who had to learn it too with no reference point beyond the milk, the word of God.

1 Peter 2:5 states that God is building us up like a house; His provision is meant not just to sustain but to build, to grow. We are taught His philosophy not simply so that we know it but so that we can apply it. The milk will set you up, but the meat will send you out.

MILK VERSUS MEAT

In 1 Corinthians 3:1-4 Paul explained that he had to alter his preaching; he preached to the newly born in faith, though they were not new, rather than to spiritual people fed by the meat of scripture. Paul was dismayed that he had to do so, dismayed that so many refused to live beyond the elementary principles. They were not engaged or focused or in alignment with this one philosophy, this distinctive philosophy of God.

Surely the milk of scripture is a comfort that cannot be compared, but the meat of scripture is a duty that cannot be neglected. The milk grows us, but the meat is given so that we may grow others. The milk is an introduction to the spirit in which we live, but the meat is the spirit through which we work. With the milk we change ourselves but with the meat we change our world.

Once God's provision constructs us, we must recognize that we were made to house. We are made strong for a purpose. We are stocked to provide. We are made a shelter so that we can stand in the rain with the soaking and make them dry. The meat is meant to sustain us through more spiritually rugged terrain. With milk God fixes what needs reparation inside of us so that with meat we are to fix what needs reparation outside of us, surrounding us. 

GRADUATION 

At a certain point, God should not have to teach us to play nice anymore. That should be a given. He should not have to prove His promises to us. He should not have to work for our trust, He should have it. He should not have to remind of His commandments, we should know them and follow them. At a certain point, scripture should evolve from lesson to directive. We should evolve from apprentices to fellow-workers with God. God does not teach us so that we can watch Him, He teaches us so that we can join Him.

Paul wrote a letter, Hebrews 5:12-14, in which he admonished the people who were unwilling to graduate from milk to meat.

"For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

Are you unskilled in the word of righteousness? If so, it is not through any fault of God. Scripture has been divinely commissioned, written and organized to exercise you into skillfulness. It is time to graduate from milk to meat. Ephesians 6:12 tells us that our battle is against powers and principalities, and how can we fight such things without the meat God provides? We would be too weak, too undernourished to ever stand. It is time to bulk up because that abundance of strength and power, courage and faith has purpose to fulfill. 

You would not feed a newborn meat; they could not handle it. Neither could a full grown adult subsist merely on milk. To do so would be to expect too much of the former and not enough of the latter. So if you are reading scripture merely for yourself, you are neglecting your potential and purpose. God has provided hardier fuel so that your life has the power, the energy, the provision to extend beyond itself.

JESUS LIVED FOR US

Jesus died for us, but He also lived for us. He devoted every stage and element of His life to restoring us to the kingdom of heaven. He indefatigably served God and He turned every instant into a lesson, a healing, an example, a reassurance, an expression of love. These are seven pieces of scripture in which that is evident. While His death cemented our communion with God, it was His life that initiated it. 

John 9:2-12

Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.

In a move of dynamite refinement, Jesus blasted away the aversion that society had placed on the downtrodden; He revealed their true value and strategic purpose in the kingdom of God. Our tears, tribulations and infirmities are no less than these blessed chances for the goodness of God to be revealed to the land of the living.* We shatter shrouding darkness with the light of the Lord when we respond to the circumstances of our life with faith. Our resilience speaks of the strength and the glory of our God, of His ability to hold and heal.

Luke 22:49-51 

When those around Him saw what was going to happen, they said to Him, “Lord, shall we strike with the sword?” And one of them struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear. But Jesus answered and said, “Permit even this.” And He touched his ear and healed him.

Despite the solemnity of their teacher, Jesus' disciples were compelled by indignation to strike His enemies. Yet not only did Jesus prohibit the act of violence, He also repaired the damage His disciple had caused to a man who meant him harm. The depth of Jesus' compassion was most apparent in the way that he loved the people who least seemed to deserve it. The small gesture was a massive declaration of the ultimate purpose of the outreach of the kingdom of God: to heal broken people, things and spirits. Jesus cupped the wound and healed it because the nature of God is as harmless as a dove.**

John 13:3-5; John 13:13-17

Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded.

You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.

In a heartfelt expression of humility, Jesus physically exemplified His ultimate, spiritual mission on earth: to serve. The disciples were abashed to have Jesus wash their feet; and yet all along He had been serving and cleansing them, and more intimately. Jesus selflessly chose to channel His authority into the act of sincerely ardent servitude. We experience a breakthrough of intimate faith when we realize God within the raw details of our life. Our faith, outwardly projected, adopts the manner of our creator and by Him we heal the earth.

Matthew 26:53

Or do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will provide Me with more than twelve legions of angels?

Jesus was unfazed by fear and undaunted by enemy because He placed full confidence in God's authority. Every other person believed that Jesus had been caught, thwarted. Jesus alone understood that God had orchestrated the events of His "capture" in order to perpetuate the specific outcome of His resurrection.

Jesus deftly humbled the arrogance of His captors by simply stating that God could instantaneously provide Him the defense of twelve legions of angels! In this Jesus professed the power and immediacy of prayer. We are never caught by happenstance or by the craft our enemies; in all positions, we have been placed expertly by God for purpose. Jesus was not afraid to be in the position, He was honored to be in the position. He was calm and centered, focused and determined. Jesus taught us that a life lived in alignment with the commandments of God is a life lived under the commanding control of God. Through it seemed otherwise to the people around Jesus, the situation was so entirely, cleverly and meticulously under control and thus Jesus remained collected.

Jesus unveiled God's unseen angel-army, poised and ready to act; and based on His nature, He had likely done so more to comfort His followers than to frighten His enemies. For those who take up the cross*** need and receive all of the support they can get.

Luke 6:12

Now it came to pass in those days that He went out to the mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.

Of the most beneficial acts of Jesus, our messiah demonstrated how a personal connection with God can be attained and maintained. Jesus consistently retreated to a private and natural location to hear and be heard by our Father. In a humble and noiseless place, Jesus delved into the solemnity of our Father. A place to hear and be heard. As we pray, we build a noiseless, impenetrable fortress which includes only ourselves and God. We delve and seal ourselves in a place of His solemnity in order to express and relieve our souls, and to be understood and restored by His.

Jesus' days were an absolute ruckus as He contemporaneously built both the offense and defense of Christianity from scratch. Without His precious moments of withdrawal to God in the quiet hours, the interminable chaos and celebration of the day might have wearied Him at best and distracted Him at worse. Jesus demonstrated that our ability to serve God publicly is entirely reliant upon our consistent willingness to know Him privately. Jesus received His purpose, strength and instruction from God and so do we. Jesus knew what to do when the sun rose because He allowed God to direct Him in the hours that preceded it.

It is not insignificant that Jesus chose natural settings to pray. For all of the world's opulent cathedrals and multi-million dollar churches, Jesus prayed in the mountains and beside the seas. To be in the midst of nature is to be surrounded by  that which God created with His own hands. In a world congested with man-made structures and products, it is in nature that we are most connected to home.

Matthew 14:29 

“Come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.

Jesus extended a lifelong invitation into the kingdom of God. No matter what figurative sea, mountain or desert is between us and God, we have been made able to cross it. We have been invited and enabled to defy the figurative and physical properties of all barrier to ascend into our Father's arms. In the single word, come, Jesus invited and enabled us to cross all boundaries unaffected by the gravitational pull of the people, forces and circumstances which try to hold us down.

Matthew 28:20 

I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

A departing gift from Jesus: His perpetual presence. Long after the age of the first disciples, He remains as intimately and vigilantly near as He has always been. Jesus departed from earth and was reborn in the Spirit of God within us****; nearer now even than ever before, but still precisely Him. Every aforementioned act above is something He is doing this moment for and within you. 

* Psalm 27:13

** Matthew 10:16

*** Matthew 16:24-25

****1 Corinthians 3:16

Ephesians 4:9-10 Now this, “He ascended”—what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.