God's Love is Not Void of Hate

Recently I've come to know, painfully, how very precious and needful is Christian community. We desperately need each other. Perhaps some more than others, nevertheless, our strength increases in uniting with others. On this thought as well, I have come to know that our strength is in separation from the world, for our unity with Christ involves both our detachment from the world and our attachment to Him. It involves the repudiation of the things of the world and a cleaving, embracing to the things of Christ. The love of God is not void of hate. "Christ hated sin," (Faith and Works 115), and those who receive him will also hate sin and iniquity. In this case "hate" is not a word strong enough to convey the correct thought. There will be enmity for sin. God placed enmity between the serpent (temptation and sin) and the woman (the Church) after the Fall and He wants to restore this enmity in the heart of every man, a hate for sin and wickedness. Mistaken love permits selfishness and sin in another but God will not and cannot permit sin and selfishness to be retained in the heart of His child. He will write in the heart of man His law of love which will lead man to exalt righteousness and goodness and in so doing he will cut against and oppose wickedness and unrighteousness.

Love and Grace

"Only by love is love awakened," (DA 22). "God is love," (1 John 4:8, 16), and "love is of God," (1 John 4:7). Therefore we do well to understand that great text to read, "Love so loved the world that He gave His Love," (John 3:16). The love of of God is tantamount to the experience of His grace. His grace is both Pardon and Power to usward. "Love is strong as death," (Song of Solomon 8:6), and "the sting of death is sin," (1 Cor. 15:56), therefore, within the love of God is the grace of God and "the power of God unto salvation," (Rom. 1:16).

Now humanity's part is simply to Respond to the Love of God demonstrated in the life and sacrifice of Christ. Each one will be pricked in his heart at one time or perhaps many, many times by the love of God. How he responds determines his destiny. Love may be awakened, that is, Christ, who is love, will be received into the heart, or love may be spurned, that is, rejected as was Christ in the flesh by His own people. If Christ is received He will pardon man from past sins (violations of the law of love, 1 John 3:4) and empower him to live without sinning--to keep him from falling, and to live the law of love which is built upon supreme love to God and impartial love to man. This two-fold element of God's grace (Pardon and Power) is expressed in the words, "Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need," (Heb. 4:16). Mercy is pardon for sins that are past, grace is power for temptations to come (future). Grace is the only "way to escape," (1 Cor. 10:13) both sin and temptation.

God Defines Love

God defines love. His love is "everlasting love," (Jer. 31:3), which is, therefore, unconditional love. Jesus is the "friend that sticketh closer than a brother," (Pr. 18:24), "altogether lovely," (SS 5:16), our true friend that "loveth at all times," (Pr. 17:17), even "while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us," (Rom. 5:8), demonstrating that, "greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends," (John 15:13). "God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son," (John 3:16), and "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself," (2 Cor. 5:19).

God's Loving Purpose in Trials

“The thorn and the thistle—the difficulties and trials that make his (man’s) life one of toil and care—were appointed for his good as a part of the training needful in God’s plan for his uplifting from the ruin and degradation that sin has wrought. The world, though fallen, is not all sorrow and misery. In nature itself are messages of hope and comfort. There are flowers upon the thistles, and the thorns are covered with roses,” (Steps to Christ 9).

Contextually, the thorn and thistle represent “the difficulties and trials that make his (man’s) life one of toil and care,” (9). But there’s a certain, loving purpose behind the trials of life—the thistles we encounter—they’re intended to accomplish something in us, a change-a needful one. Elsewhere it has been said, “The trials of life are God's workmen, to remove the impurities and roughness from our character. Their hewing, squaring, and chiseling, their burnishing and polishing, is a painful process; it is hard to be pressed down to the grinding wheel. But the stone is brought forth prepared to fill its place in the heavenly temple,” (Mount of Blessing 20). The tender, loving purpose of God is thus clarified and so we perceive by faith, and by faith alone, the blessings in trials, the blessing of trials—the flowers upon the thistles. We understand that though there are thorns they are covered with roses! Look for the roses among the thorns –the blessings behind or in the trials. No trial is without a blessing. They are there, always. Look for the loving purpose of the “Rose of Sharon” in your present trying circumstances. In the second chapter of the Song of Solomon we learn of our Father—the divine Botanist, and His purpose to transform fallen man, a prickly thorn, into a stunning lily—a fair flower resembling Him, “the Lily of the valleys.”

“I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys. As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters,” (Song of Solomon 2:1, 2).