Seven things that bug me

“There are six things that the LORD hates, seven that are an abomination to him:”
-Proverbs 6:16

List out seven things you hate. Go ahead – I’ll be here when you get back. Now, I don’t mean like spinach or reality television. I mean like evil things. Certain types of crimes.

If I were to make my list, I think that, obviously, rape and murder would be on there. Abortion would make the list easily. Also pornography, child molesters, and people who use the Bible to tell the sick and the elderly to send them money. I suppose false teachers in general really, really bother me.

Maybe those last two can go together, but that’s off the top of my head.

Solomon makes a list here of six things that the Lord hates, and a seventh that is worse than them all, and the list may surprise us. We’re going to list them today, and then, God willing, deal with them in more detail in days to come.

1) Pride
2) Lying
3) Murder
4) Scheming
5) Anxiousness to do evil
6) Slander
7) Spreading discord

Okay, so I expected “murder,” certainly. Being anxious to do evil is something that doesn’t surprise me. The rest cause me to think. Think about it for a minute – when you lie, you are doing something that makes the short list of things God hates.

I think that one of the main reasons this generation does not worry about the judgment of God is that it doesn’t understand the heart of God. We see things that OTHER people do as perhaps evil, but a lie or two doesn’t hurt anyone. Planning to get back at someone doesn’t really qualify as a huge sin. Our lists are more like the one I tried to come up with above. It is filled with the sins we see on the news, but not sins we ourselves commit.

But lying is an offense to God. Slander is horrible to Him. These are not things to just be passed over, but they are rebellious acts against a just and Holy God. We may scoff at that, but that is only to put our own concept of good and evil above His, and He has infinitely more qualifications to make that call.

If we do not share His heart in these things, then it is only a reflection of our own fallen nature. We are so tied up in ourselves that we cannot imagine that we have done serious evil that is worthy of stern punishment. We assume God is cool with us, but He is not!

This is exactly why Jesus had to come. If lying is such an offense against God, and it is, then who can call himself just? Who can claim to be righteous? Not one. We all deserve punishment. But God is loving, just as He is Holy, and He sent His only begotten Son to earth to live a perfect life and die in our place. If you believe in Him, then He paid for your sins on that Cross.

By the work of the Spirit, we are gradually conformed to be a better person. Someday, when we are glorified through Him, then we will have this same heart against evil, and we will also finally not fall on the list. Until that day, Jesus will continue to intercede for us with the Father.