Daily Devotional Details

Date

Topics

Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Romans 12:9 (NIV)

The apostle Paul is introducing us to a powerful principle: Hate is the flip side of love. If you love something, you will hate what destroys it.

If you love the countryside, you will hate pollution. If someone you love is suffering from an illness, you will hate that illness because of what it is doing to the person you love.

If you are indifferent to what destroys, then your love is not sincere. Love that does not hate what is evil has no substance. If you do not know what it is to hate, you do not really know what it is to love.

The greatest evidence of a growing love for God is a growing hatred of evil. This is the whole point of the story of Judas. If you asked him, he would have told you that he loved Christ. But he did not hate what is evil, so his love didn’t amount to much. There was no strength in it. That is why he betrayed the Son of Man with a kiss.

Paul says that our love must be sincere. How would you know if your love is sincere? The greatest evidence of the sincerity of your love is that you hate what is evil.

How sincere is your love for God? How about your love for others?