Sometimes the Bible says things with such simple clarity that it shakes us from our slumbers. Evil’s presence has numbed us, making us miss the obvious. We believe, for instance, that we do not have an established religion in our country. Yet we pay taxes to pay priests to teach our children the religion of the nation. Though we call it property tax for teachers at public schools indoctrinating children in the love of State it is everything that defines a religion.
God does not say that those that hate Him are misguided, needing to be educated, slightly off the mark. He says instead “All those who hate Me love death (Prov. 8:36). This is not poetic rhetoric, a mere metaphor. It’s a cold, hard fact. Anything less than agreeing with God here is head-in-the-sand defiance, a purposeful denial of the wickedness of the wicked. That He has said it is more than enough proof that it is true.
If, however, you still doubt, consider this. Those who hate God, according to Romans 1, are prone to embrace the perversion of homosexuality but also the barrenness of homosexuality. Those who hate God tend to be those who insist that there are too many humans on the planet some of whom plot to reduce the population.
Nothing illustrates such more than the bloodlust God’s enemies have toward the unborn. Being “pro-choice” is no mere policy position. The murder of the unborn is a bloody, unholy sacrifice, no different than ancient sacrifices made to Molech. Given their relative innocence, unborn babies are those of God’s image bearers that bear the closest resemblance to their maker. Which is why His enemies love to kill them.
These lovers of death may behave politely in public. They may work right beside us. They may speak at either political party’s national convention. They may, or may not be self-conscious practitioners of satanic rituals. They may or may not be in conscious communication with the demonic realm. What they are not is just like God’s children, but with a different strategy to reach the same goal.
We prove ourselves to be not as harmless as doves but as useless as pigeons when we lose sight of this biblical reality. Yes, we are to love our enemies. Yes, they too bear the remains of the image of God. But we must remember that they are our enemies and hate the God whose image they bear. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal. We enter into battle wielding not the sword of Peter but the sword of the Lord, His Word.
We fail to love our neighbor when we fail to believe what God tells us about him. We likewise diminish the horror of what we once all were. We too were haters of God and lovers of death. Through His grace, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Rom. 8:5). They are far worse than we think. As are we. God give us the grace and wisdom to love You, and to love those who hate You.