7 things the Lord hates
Which is worse?
Church kids are well aware that swearing, smoking, and sexting* are bad.
Curiously, none of these made their way on to God’s top 7 list of sins in Proverbs 6:
There are six things the LORD hates,
seven that are detestable to him:haughty eyes,
a lying tongue,
hands that shed innocent blood,a heart that devises wicked schemes,
feet that are quick to rush into evil,a false witness who pours out lies
and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers.
To many, this is a list of 7 things that characterizes church folks. We damn people for their cigarettes, and are adamant about our teens not smoking a hooka. We’d rather they have haughty eyes and lying tongues.
This is upside down. This is wrong. This is sin.
A co-worker once told me they’d left the church decades ago and had never been back. From some of my experiences with fellow church-goes, I can’t say I blame them – they likely interacted with people in the church characterized by this list of despicable things.
Rather than focusing on outward behaviour, or one-time actions, we should be focusing on the heart.
For my kids and the high school and college students with whom I volunteer, I’d rather them have cigarettes than haughty eyes.
* Sorry, I wanted a list if 3 🙂
