Posted on 01/28/2009 5:52:39 AM PST by tenger
Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality. Romans 12:9-13
The first sentence in this passage lays the framework for the entire passage. Love must be sincere. The rest of the passage, while not a complete description of sincere love, is certainly a good place to start.
Many people bristle at the word 'hate.' After all, the hallmark of a Christian should be love, right? But it's not hating just to hate; it's hating evil. And hating evil should be a hallmark of Christian belief. Then the question becomes, what is evil? Dennis Prager is a man who has devoted his life to bringing clarity to the subject of good and evil. He has defined evil as such: “the deliberate infliction of cruelty -- mass murder, rape, torture, genocide, and totalitarianism” to name a few. Essentially, we know evil when we see it.
Ask God to help you hate evil. I know it's not exactly the most flowery or "churchy" prayer in the world, but evil exists and the more we hate it, the more we'll begin to take action to expose and eliminate it. Then ask God what your role should be in exposing it and eliminating it. His answer might surprise you.
Unfortunately, we are now commanded by Scripture to pray for it in the form of BHO. The Conundrum of a Christian.
No, we are commanded to pray for his salvation and that he will govern in a Godly manner. Not to pray for his ‘evilness’.
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