You who love the LORD, hate evil!
He protects the lives of his godly people
and rescues them from the power of the wicked.
—Psalm 97:10 NLT

Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong.
Hold tightly to what is good. —Romans 12:9 NLT

I am in a fierce battle with two invasive plants: the multiflora rose and the oriental bittersweet vine. They have become my archenemies because of the damage they have caused to my once-beautiful backyard woods. These invasive plants are insidious. In the spring, the multiflora rose plant is actually quite beautiful. It blossoms. The fine, white, dainty flowers made our woods look all frothy and gorgeous each year. The oriental bittersweet has tinier flowers and lush, green leaves. I used to admire them, thinking how beautiful they looked.

That was before I noticed the damage they were causing. Sadly, I look at my woods more than I walk in them. It’s only a small patch of trees, really, but it provides privacy, and I enjoy the view of the trees immensely. After at least a decade (probably more) of ignoring, I started to notice trees dying—no leaves on their branches. What was happening? I discovered that the vine, left to itself and flourishing, had raced underground with shallow but long-reaching roots, popping up here and there and strangling our poor trees. The multiflora rose was growing rapidly and overshadowing the smaller bushes and saplings as well.

I was horrified. I started pulling up vines and cutting down the invading bushes. I filled lawn cart after lawn cart last summer, untwisting vines from saplings that had barely begun in life and were already drooping. It was sad, tedious, shame-filled work as I realized my neglect. But off the vines came, including the ones that required hiring a company to attack them. The multiflora rose had formed bushes so big and so entrenched that it took a few men to chop and haul them away.

This year, I started early with fierce determination that not one vine would wrap its tendrils around one tree on my watch! I had developed a fine-tuned “holy hatred” for that which was destroying the life of my woodlands. No matter how pretty and innocuous the small tendrils looked, I knew the damage they would cause and, without hesitation, ripped them out from their long and persistent roots.

As I worked, I realized—this is exactly how sin operates in my life. At first, a little bit of self-pity or bitterness or resentment feels good, right, and definitely attractive to my selfish self. It feels “deserved.” Yet, if I let that evil grow within me, it’s not content to stay small. James nailed it when he said: “These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death”  (James 1:15 NLT).

So. Yes, I need to have a holy hatred of sin. When I sense in my spirit a prideful attitude or when I take offense at some perceived slight, I cannot tolerate sin. I know the damage it does. I know that left alone, it will grow and spread and kill and destroy. It needs to be brought to God, the Master Gardener of my soul, at once. Rip. It. Out. I plead. Don’t let it stay and corrupt and destroy, as Hebrews 12:15b tells me: “ … Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you, corrupting many”  (NLT). I don’t want to “corrupt many” by my  sin. And I will if that evil is not fully removed. I’ve been there and seen the horrid consequences.

It’s not enough to wish I were better. Nope. In very few places is hatred a holy thing, but hating evil? That would be one of them. Let’s not mess about with “small sins,” friends. Eradicate them. Hate them. Realize what happens when we nurture what is evil.

Father, thank You, for the life lessons You are giving me as I rip out the vines in my backyard. I want to hate evil. Protect me from it, Lord. Give me eyes to see when I am nurturing something that will ultimately kill and destroy. No matter how painful the ripping-out process is, living with it is worse. Help me, Lord, to be free from any vines that hinder my walk with You. Instead, let me abide in You, the Good Vine that produces good fruit. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

“I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener ….
Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches.
Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce
much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.”
—John 15:1, 5 NLT

You are loved,
Sharon

Sweet Selah Ministries

Vision
To inspire a movement away from the belief that “busy is better”
and toward the truth of God’s Word that stillness and knowing
Him matter most—and will be reflected in more effective work and service

Mission
To offer biblical resources and retreats that help women pause (Selah)
and love God more deeply as they know Him more intimately (Sweet)

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