Daily Devotionals
Daily Devotional: Psalms 139:19-24
Ps 139:19-24
19 If only you would slay the wicked, O God! Away from me, you bloodthirsty men! 20 They speak of you with evil intent; your adversaries misuse your name. 21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD, and abhor those who rise up against you? 22 I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies. 23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. 24 See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.
Rom 12:9-10
9 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.
There is a huge principle in these verses that the world needs to know today. It is possible to love someone and hate what they are doing. God is love but there are things that are an abomination to him; he hates and abhors them. This is because he is righteous, holy and pure and sin violates his nature. While he loves even those who are in sin, his justice requires that sin be punished and that sin must be punished by death. This is physical death that comes to all because all have sinned but it is also spiritual death for those who die in their sins.
Spiritual death is eternal separation from God. At first glance that doesn’t seem to be all that bad. But consider that God is light, he is life, he is love, he is pure. He is all that is good, pleasant and beautiful. Separated from God (hell) is described as every kind of wickedness, hatred, bitterness, pain, suffering and sorrow.
Add to this that hell is a place that was never intended for mankind but was made for the devil and his angels. God, in his love for all of mankind, does not want any to go to hell so he has provided a way for all to be with him in eternity. He sent Jesus, who was God in flesh, to live a perfect life and then to offer that life as a sacrifice for all the sins of all mankind. This shows us the great love of God for those who are steeped in sin and are his enemies. But when we think of the worst sinner we can imagine and how he or she deserves hell, in the justice of God you and I deserve hell just as much. We have all sinned against him. The gospel is the power of God to save us, revealing how we can be counted as righteous to God.
Heavenly Father, I know and admit that I have sinned by failing to live up to your glory in all things. I need your forgiveness by the cleansing blood of Jesus. I thank you that I have been taught your gospel and have become your child by obeying it. Even as I seek to live for you, too often I fail and still sin. Thank you for continuing to forgive me and making me spiritually clean. Continue to transform me into your image each day. Give me wisdom to see every opportunity to share this gospel with those who are still living in sin. I pray in the name of Jesus.
Robert
