Hating what is wrong!

Romans 12:9 (NLT) Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good.

Hate has lots of negative connotations and tends to be associated with a strong emotional reaction. A couple of things happened recently which certainly provoked a negative reaction in me. One from a brother who thoughtlessly did his own thing without regard to others who were involved and when challenged claimed the fault lay elsewhere. The other was from members of a sports club I associate with. What I didn’t realise was that there was an inner group of better players who secretly met when the season ended. A number of the inferior players aren’t good enough to be invited to be part of the group, me among them. Is this wrong? From their point of view there is no problem they have come to a private arrangement. For me I felt ignored and second class, I don’t belong.  Of course I just need to get over it, deal with any resentment, forgive and move on.  Unfortunately I have felt that same feeling in some churches. I’m not one of the “in” crowd, I don’t really belong, I’m an outsider and no one comes to me to talk, I always have to take the initiative. Again I need to forgive but ‘closed’ Christian communities are a contradiction in terms if we as Christians can’t welcome the stranger we are not welcoming Jesus and our Lord warned us about that (Mt 25:31-46). It is easy and natural to hate when we are personally offended but we should hate the wrong of believers whose treatment of outsiders prevents people from entering God’s kingdom. If we don't hate what is wrong we don't care and no one can accuse God of not caring.

Lord help us to care enough to hate what is wrong and do something about it when we need to.