Anyone who has eyes to see and ears to hear has to admit that we are living in dangerous times. I believe that in the spirit realm, lines are being drawn. God is testing His people to find out if they love Him enough to truly hate evil, as the verse above states.

One wise biblical commentator writes: "It may be that this command [to prove our love for God by hating evil] is one of the most often broken among God's people. We find it easy to be TOO loving, or rather express a twisted love that pretends to both love the Lord, and love or accept the things that He hates." (David Guzik) Never before have I seen so many Christians who are more afraid of offending people, than they are of offending God. This is a "twisted love." Because a sin or sinful lifestyle is socially acceptable, they will refuse to take a stand against it - preferring to "play along" with the offenders out of "love." But God's definition of true love says that love "does NOT rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth." (1 Corinthians 13:6 ESV) In the Lord's eyes, love tells the truth. And He commands His people to "speak the truth in love," no matter how difficult or painful it might be. (Ephesians 4:15 NLT)

Bible commentator Albert Barnes wrote: "There can be no true love for God where evil is not hated in all its forms, since it is the object of the divine abhorrence. We cannot be like God unless we love what He loves, and hate what He hates." Scripture says: "Hate what is evil [detest all ungodliness, do not tolerate wickedness]; hold on tightly to what is good." (Romans 12:9 AMP) We are not to detest sinners, but the Lord demands that we hate their sin, and absolutely refuse to "tolerate wickedness," if we expect to be counted among His "faithful ones."

The second half of our featured verse shows that there are great rewards for those who demonstrate this kind of loyalty toward the Lord: "He guards the lives of His faithful ones and delivers them from the hand of the wicked." If you are counted among God's faithful ones, then you are a mortal enemy of Satan and his demons. Yet, if you are reading this, it means that God and His angels have protected you all this time. From now on, when trouble comes your way, stand on God's promise to "guard" and "deliver" you, simply because you are one of His faithful ones!

Prayer: Lord, help me to never water down Your message to be popular with people. Instead, I pray that my supreme passion would always be to please You, and You alone. Remind me often that if all I attempt to do is to please people, I would fail to be a true servant of Christ. (Galatians 1:10 TPT) Thank You that as I learn to love what You love, and hate what You hate, I will receive the rewards and blessings that are reserved for Your most faithful ones!