Amos
5:18-24 - Through Amos God is speaking, “I hate, I despise....” Can God hate? Is He not loved? Since God is
a personality, He has, like us, the capacity to hate as well as to love. In
fact, if one cannot hate, one cannot love.
But what or
whom does God hate? It is not “whom”
but “what.” Always He loves the
sinner but not the sin. God hates our wickedness, our insincere worship, and
our religiosity, “feasts,” “solemn assemblies,” “noises of your songs.” God
hates your hypocrisy. If God hates sin, should Christians not also do the same?
One caveat
and a word of warning. Do you find God hating all the things you only hate? These
words of Amos give us pause to examine our own hearts and motives. We need to
pray with the Psalmist, “Create in me a
clean heart o God.”-Psalm 51:10-19 We ought to be images of the Lord’s
justice and mercy. If God only behaves and acts more like you – you might have
a problem.
Collect for Sunday O Lord, we
pray that the visitation of Your grace may so cleanse our thoughts and minds
that Your Son Jesus, when He shall come, may find in us a fit dwelling place;
through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy
Spirit, one God, now and forever.
[1] The Ten
Virgins copyright © Ed Riojas, Higher Things
Collect for Proper 27. Lutheran Service Book © 2006 Concordia Publishing House. St. Louis
No comments:
Post a Comment