Hating Well

Many years ago a close friend went through a difficult divorce. He was a new believer when his then wife cheated on him, cheated on him again, and then cheated again. Each time he forgave her and brought her back until she was no longer willing to return. At the time I asked about his feelings toward the other man and I was shocked by his response. He told me that he was much less angry at the other man than he was at himself. He was angry for every time he had given a foothold to the smallest lustful thought. He went on to say that the adultery he had witnessed and suffered was the final fruit of small lustful moments just like those he had excused in his own life. Rather than hating the other man he began to hate his own sin, and just as importantly, hating sin in general. Sin had somehow done its strangest work in the life of this believer, it had led him to repentance and it had led him to desire holiness. 

About 25 years after Jesus’ resurrection Paul wrote a letter to the church in Thessalonica. About a year before that he and Silas were forced to flee the city to avoid arrest and they were heartbroken to leave these new and dear believers. Then Paul heard from Timothy that the church was thriving, even in the midst of persecution. This growth had been costly to these young Christians and likely involved isolation from their families and friends, difficulty in their jobs and threats of legal trouble. But they had remained resilient, so Paul wrote to encourage them, and to celebrate with them. It’s an incredibly emotional letter, and as a bit of Bible trivia, it’s probably the earliest letter we have from Paul.

So what do these two stories have to do with each other? In the middle of his letter Paul writes “For the Lord will himself descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first” (1 Thess. 4:16). What that “cry of command” might be is a provocative thought, and one we can’t answer for sure, but I like to think he will shout “Come alive!”, because we do know that at that moment all sin will be done away with, and the death it wields will be reversed. We also know that the degree to which we have experienced the result of sin is the degree to which we will be uncontrollable in our joy! My friend will be uncontrollable - I think we all will.

So what are we supposed to do on this Friday? Three things: hate sin, love holiness, and maybe listen to this song.