Morning & Evening Devotional Reading–

June 7– Morning

 by C. H. Spurgeon, revised and edited by W. C. Neff

“You that love the Lord, hate evil.” 

—Psalm 97:10

 

Dear Christian, you have good reason to “hate evil.” Just think of the great harm it has already brought into your life. It blinded you so that you could not see the beauty of the Savior, and it made you deaf to his tender invitations. It turned your feet onto the pathway of death and poured poison into the fountain of your being; it tainted your heart and made it “deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.”

Oh, what a creature you were when evil had had its way with you– before divine grace intervened! You were destined for God’s wrath, running with the crowd to do all sorts of evil. We all were like this, and yet the Apostle Paul reminds us that we have been “washed, set apart, and purified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.”

Even now, as Christians, we have good reason to keep on hating evil. It is still able to hurt us; it remains an active enemy, ever watching to drag us to ruin. Therefore “hate evil,” dear Christian, unless you want lots of unnecessary trouble. If you want to throw thorns on your path and plant weeds in your garden, then neglect to “hate evil”; but if you want to live a happy life, and die a peaceful death, then walk in all the ways of holiness, hating evil to the very end. If you truly love your Savior, then “hate evil.” In fact, I know of no cure for loving evil than spending time in intimate communion with the Lord Jesus. Live with him each day, and it will be impossible to be at peace with sin. [M&E]