Hebrews 1:9
“Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.”
One of the themes liberals usually trumpet about God is that He is a loving God. There is no question that God is a loving God. But, when you study the Scriptures you see that the love of God also causes Him to hate sin. It says in the verse above, “Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity…” The unpleasant side of God that many do not want to talk about is that He also hates sin. Yes, He is a loving God. Yes, He loves righteousness, but His love of righteousness forces Him to hate sin.
Moreover, we love that God is a righteous God. We oftentimes talk how God is willing to accept any person in any condition. This is absolutely true! But, the unpleasant side of God that we don’t like to talk about is that He is also a judgmental God. Psalm 97:2 says, “Clouds and darkness are round about him: righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne.” Notice, God’s righteousness forces Him to have to judge people. God must judge whether or not someone is doing wrong. If God is going to be righteous, then He has to be judgmental about someone’s actions.
Furthermore, we love the peace that God gives. You will hear how God is a God of peace, and those who say this are right; however, the unpleasant side of God is that He is also a God of holiness. In other words, you can’t have peace without holiness. Holiness is separation. God wants us to have peace, but you cannot have peace without standards that make you holy. There must be a separation from wrong.
There are two truths that we must understand about the unpleasant side of God. First, you cannot have one without the other. You can’t have love without hatred; righteousness without judgment; peace without holiness. Each side is important to the other. If you love someone, then you must hate the sin that will hurt them. If you want to live a righteous life, then you must judge people so that you will know with whom you should not associate. If you want peace, then you must live a separated life from those who would live a life that causes turmoil. There must always be another side to one side.
Second, you cannot be close to God without both sides. Hebrews 12:14 says, “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:” The only way you can see the LORD is to be close to the LORD. God sets having both side as the parameters for seeing Him. Those who are one-sided Christians are not close to God. They may like to portray they are close, but they cannot be close because God demands the Christian to have both sides for closeness to be achieved.
This moves me to ask you, how close are you to God. Do you find yourself having one side without the other. It doesn’t matter which side you fall on in God’s parameters, it takes both sides to be close. Don’t let the one-sided religious crowd shame you into changing. You will never be close to God without having the unpleasant side in your life. We all like the pleasant side of God, but what makes the pleasant side pleasant is the unpleasant side of God. You will find that you will be able to help more people if you can acquire the unpleasant side to your pleasant side.