Dear God and Precious Father, this command seems so far above us: “Let love be without dissimulation.”
How insincere we often are, Lord, especially in the matter of love. For love is not blind, nor deaf, nor
amoral.
Dear Lord Jesus, You said “If You love me, keep my commandments.”
The first and great commandment is to love You, our Creator and God, with all our hearts, with all our souls,
with all our minds, and all our strength.
What hateful things we sometimes do in the name of love. You have shown us the way, “Abhor that which is
evil; cleave to that which is good.”
Wickedness puts on a cloak of love and loves evil and hates the good. The minister is considered loving if he
does not rebuke sin and reprove ungodliness, thereby despising Your commandment. He sells his God for
the love of the world. This is not love, O God, but how hard it is to be faithful.
Abhor that which is evil. All kinds of evil. Evil ideas, evil doctrines, evil attitudes, evil posturing, evil
hypocrisies, evil speakings, backbiting, slandering, evil gossiping, evil deeds against Your commandments
that forbid disobedience to godly authority, murder and hatred, adultery and other sexual sins, thefts of all
kinds, destroying reputations, and even the evil desire for such things.
You abhor such things, dear Lord. You loath them. You hate them with every fiber of Your holiness. We
have no word strong enough to express Your hatred of them, but we see Your hatred of evil in the awful
sufferngs in the soul and body of Jesus Christ.
Your wrath came upon Him and He suffered the punishment that Your justice requires for transgression of
Your holy law, a coming short of the glory of God.
Grant us Your Spirit, not to dull our senses and obscure our moral natures, but to sharpen them and
invigorate us, for He is given to reprove the world of sin, of righteousness, and judgment. We love in truth by
abhorring evil, for that is the meaning of the sentence; we also love by cleaving [sticking to, and being glued
to] that which is good.
How faithful You are, Dear Lord. You not only tell us to love, but You tell us how to love.
“Reprove” means 1) to convict, refute, confute 1a) generally with a suggestion of shame of the person
convicted 1b) by conviction to bring to the light, to expose 2) to find fault with, correct 2a) by word 2a1) to
reprehend severely, chide, admonish, reprove 2a2) to call to account, show one his fault, demand an
explanation 2b) by deed 2b1) to chasten, to punish.
You, O Lord, abhor the evil because You cleave to that which is good. You know how much better we
would be if we would repent and turn from our evil ways and evil thoughts and false doctrines and proud
thoughts.
You hate what we have become by turning away from You, the fountain of goodness and truth.
How our flesh hates this truth, dear Lord. Every fiber in our being rises against reproof and rebuke. We
rebuke the rebuker and reprove the reprover.
This is right when men rebuke in ignorance or to avoid the cross, but so evil when we resist truth and
counsel. We dissimulate and pretend to be wronged and add slander to our offenses against each other.
We sin either in tyranny, seeking to exercise lordship; or we sin in truancy, refusing to love our neighbor as
God has commanded us. We do evil in the name of love, and we know to do good and do it not in the name
of love.
And so we dissimulate and our eye is evil, and we do not see God. Men praise our foolishness which is
horrid in Your pure eyes, O Most High.
Grant us forgiveness and repentance, O Lord, that we might be salt and light in the world for Your glory and
praise.
Amos 5:10 They hate him that rebuketh in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly.
Pr 9:8 Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee: rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee.
Pr 24: 24 He that saith unto the wicked, Thou art righteous; him shall the people curse, nations shall abhor
him: 25 But to them that rebuke him shall be delight, and a good blessing shall come upon them.
Pr 27:5 Open rebuke is better than secret love.
But how deceitful is my heart, dear Lord.
We reprove and rebuke, not out of love, but from spite and ill will, pretending love. This is why we need
Your Spirit so desperately, so we do not play the fool and sow strife and hatred in the name of love.
Give me a humble heart to receive instruction, and meekness and boldness of Spirit to speak truth plainly.
How hard it is to be obedient in this, O Lord.
May I be filled with goodness and knowledge and so be able [capable, strong, effective] to admonish others
in obedience to You, having examined my own heart and life.
May I love the good and the godly people and cleave to them and support and defend them. May I abhor
evil thoughts, doctrines, habits, practices, attitudes, with my whole soul, as You do, O Lord. Precious, Lord Jesus.
him: 25 But to them that rebuke him shall be delight, and a good blessing shall come upon them.
Pr 27:5 Open rebuke is better than secret love.
But how deceitful is my heart, dear Lord.
We reprove and rebuke, not out of love, but from spite and ill will, pretending love. This is why we need
Your Spirit so desperately, so we do not play the fool and sow strife and hatred in the name of love.
Give me a humble heart to receive instruction, and meekness and boldness of Spirit to speak truth plainly.
How hard it is to be obedient in this, O Lord.
May I be filled with goodness and knowledge and so be able [capable, strong, effective] to admonish others
in obedience to You, having examined my own heart and life.
May I love the good and the godly people and cleave to them and support and defend them. May I abhor
evil thoughts, doctrines, habits, practices, attitudes, with my whole soul, as You do, O Lord. Precious, Lord Jesus.
How You loved us.
You took upon Yourself our horrid sins and bore them and received the punishment of Your Father for them
as if they were Your Own sins!
He withdrew His sweet presence from You in the darkness of that day that You were hanged on a tree, a
cursed thing, so that we might be freed from the curse and received into favor.
Stir up my heart and soul, Dear Father. Renew Your image in me through the blood of the Cross that I may
abhor all evil in myself and elsewhere, and cleave to the good, whether the work of Your Spirit in me, or in
others by Your grace.
For You are the fountain of life and from You all blessing flow. May I love people without dissimulation
enough to seek their good in all things, as did Your Only Begotten Son. In the Name of You my Savior,
Jesus Christ, for You “loved righteousness and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed
thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows….” Amen and Amen.
You took upon Yourself our horrid sins and bore them and received the punishment of Your Father for them
as if they were Your Own sins!
He withdrew His sweet presence from You in the darkness of that day that You were hanged on a tree, a
cursed thing, so that we might be freed from the curse and received into favor.
Stir up my heart and soul, Dear Father. Renew Your image in me through the blood of the Cross that I may
abhor all evil in myself and elsewhere, and cleave to the good, whether the work of Your Spirit in me, or in
others by Your grace.
For You are the fountain of life and from You all blessing flow. May I love people without dissimulation
enough to seek their good in all things, as did Your Only Begotten Son. In the Name of You my Savior,
Jesus Christ, for You “loved righteousness and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed
thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows….” Amen and Amen.
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