HELEN SANDERS
6-6-2021
IS HATRED AN ATTRIBUTE OF GOD?
So often we hear people say that God is love, and that is absolutely true. He loves us so much that he gave us Jesus to save us from our sin. That’s the ultimate of love. He also loves us enough to discipline us when we sin.
Years ago, I preached a message on God’s hate life. A lady responded to this message with “God doesn’t hate anything.” No matter what I showed her in the scriptures where it showed what God hates, she would not change her mind. She left our church because she was convinced that God could never hate.
So, does God hate anything? The answer to that is a definite yes. He hates sin, yet at the same time loves the sinner. Proverbs 6:16-19, says, “These six things doth the LORD hate; yea, seven are an abomination to him.” Among these seven things which God hates are a proud look. Pride was the downfall of Satan. Pride has been the downfall of many a good person. Other things he hates in this same passage are feet running to mischief and a false witness. These seem like small things, but God hates them.
You see, God gave us His word, the Bible so that we could learn what he loves and what he hates. God loves a cheerful giver. This means that whatever we do as an act of service, whether giving money or time, or help, we must do it with a cheerful heart. Our motivation should never be out of a “have to do this” attitude. We do it out of love.
God loves those that don’t love him. He gives us a free will to choose to love him or not. Unlike mankind that many times expects or demands love from others, God isn’t like that. It is our choice to love him or not. Even when we choose not to love him, he still loves us.
God hates religion but loves relationship. He wanted relationship with mankind from the very beginning and that is why He created Adam. Was he lonely? I can’t answer that, but he wanted a relationship with someone that was made in His image. Although He hated the sin that Adam committed, He loved Adam enough to put him out of the garden so he wouldn’t eat of the tree of life and remain in a sinful state.
God has a hate life, and it comes from man’s sin. We should think about that when we choose to go our own way. God wants better for us than that. The day is coming soon where God will show his wrath on those that hate him with the destruction that takes place during the Great Tribulation, but even in that it is to bring mankind to repentance. Again, He hates the sin but loves the sinner.
So, does God have an attribute of hate? Yes. He hates sin.
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