Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good.--Romans 12:9
Dear Suzanne, Rebecca, Anna, and Mikayla,
We have already looked at the first part of this verse here. For this study we will be looking at the second part. Abhorring what is evil and clinging to what is good. As a believer with a mind transformed by the word of God, we will abhor evil. Jon Courson says that the literal rendering in the Greek is to treat evil like cow pies. We don't bring cow pies into our house, or go anywhere near them. They are abhorrent, repulsive and disgusting. I like that description...pretty simple for me to remember.
God is holy. He is without sin. He cannot look upon evil or tolerate it. If you truly love God you will hate what He hates. Romans 16:19 tells us that we are to be simple (naive) concerning evil. Psalm 34:14 says Depart from evil and do good; Seek peace and pursue it. Proverbs 8:13 says The fear of the LORD is to hate evil; Psalm 119:104 however is my favorite. Through Your precepts I get understanding; Therefore I hate every false way. It is the word that gives us our hatred of evil, because the word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. Jesus is called the Word of God. (John 1:1) He is the light of life and in Him there is no darkness at all. He is the light that shines both in our hearts and in this dark, evil world.
Girls, this is so important. The only reason we can abhor evil is because we know the Lord...it is because His Spirit lives inside us. He is the One that abhors it. In our flesh, the bible says, nothing good dwells. In our flesh we are deceived by evil. In our flesh we can call good, evil and evil, good. In Christ we see evil for what it is ...the light of His life inside reveals its true nature to us...ugly, destructive, and deadly both in this life and the next.
Romans 8 tells us that to be spiritually minded is life but to be carnally minded is death. Colossians tells us to set our mind on things above, not on things of the earth. Remember the renewed mind from the first two verses of this chapter? That is what is needed to abhor evil and also what is needed to enable us to cling to what is good. A mind renewed by the word of God. As we go through our day our minds become dirtied with all the mud the world throws at us. It becomes muddied with offenses against us that we dwell on instead of what is right and good. It becomes muddied when we don't get what we want and then dwell on what we don't have and it becomes muddied and muddled with those things we see and hear that are not peaceable and pure.
Studying the word daily cleanses our mind with the water of the word and transforms our thinking. It conforms us into His image...the image of Him in whom there is no darkness at all. The things of the world fall away and we behold Him and remember goodness...our wills once again become aligned with His and we walk in fellowship agreeing. It is then that we can focus our attention on what is good and cling to it. The word cling means to glue yourself to it...stick to it...to keep company with. Unfortunately, it is my tendency to focus on those things in my life that are not right with an attitude that I deserve to have all things well. The bible tells me I deserve nothing but death, and that it is only by His grace and mercy that I am saved. When your thoughts go awry, as they inevitably will, glue yourself to what is good. Make a practice of it. What is good...God is good!
Paul tells us this in Philippians in regard to our thinking.
Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.--Philippians 4:8-9
Proverbs 23:7 says, For as a man thinks, so is he and Luke 6:45 tells us that out of the abundance of the heart (what we are dwelling on) the mouth speaks. Don't dwell on cow pies...dwell on the word, the things of God...focus your eyes on Him and you will speak psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to those around you.
Love
Mom
