Things that God hates

Proverbs 6:16-19
There are six things that the Lord hates,
seven that are an abomination to him:

17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue,
and hands that shed innocent blood,
18 a heart that devises wicked plans,
feet that make haste to run to evil,
19 a false witness who breathes out lies,
and one who sows discord among brothers.


1. haughty eyes : arrogant, high-and-mighty, insolent, lofty, lordly, overbearing, overweening, prideful, proud, supercilious, superior, therefore it is eyes who look down on ppl. DO i do this all the time? surely. i looked down on those different or weaker than me. i looked down on ppl whose ways are wayward/sinful in my eyes, thinking that i am always right with God all the time, and not mourn over the sins still in me. we need to start recognising that we are needy and broken people at all times(the younger brother!) , rather than thinking that we have already reached our 'sinless' destination and to start taking pride in it ( much like the older brother- luke 15)

2. a lying tongue : do i lie to myself and to God and to his ppl all the time? many times is say things i never meant. the bible calls it lies. for eg., it is easier to lie to get out of a situation , than to get yourself involved in the situation. puffin up facts is also a form of lying. NOt presenting the acutal/full truth is also a form of lying. sometimes, we devise lies to 'justify' certain actions that is unpleasing to God, eg. "surely God wont mind me sleeping with my bf, we are going to get married anyway. " we are all liars.

3. hands that shed innocent blood: maybe a lot of us do not kill or murder people physically, but surely we do commit murder in our hearts. exodus 20 tells us not to accuse others falsely. we commit 2 sins at one time here: 1. evil/anger thoughts in my mind. 2. falsely accuse others without knowing the full picture. i like to judge ppl or come to conclusion about some ppl or certain issues using my past'experience' or 'my own wisdom'. i have limited God's ability to work thru difficult people and terrible situations. i resorted to my own ways, aka flesh ( romans 8:6) ; taking things into my own control.

4.a heart that devises wicked plans: we dont devise terrorist plans like some terror groups do. but surely we sometimes deliberately(or unknowingly) do things that actually harm the plans of God. SO many times , i feel tired and wanted to quit ( half-time) and unknowingly, but deliberately messed up God's plan. eg. quitting a ministry, or quitting a church or changing a job. another eg. divorce! God's plan is for a good family,but so many godly(or ungodly?) man and women has decided to forgone God's perfect plan for them in order to pursue their own interest. guess what? satan is smiling.

5.feet that make haste to run to evil- i am returning to romans 8 here. many times when a horrible situation arise,i would tend to deal with the problem using my trusted 'instinct'. i do not look to God for wisdom or seek his assurance in that moment. it is a natural thing to do, but the outcome(internally and externally) surely does reflect our 'thinking' process - whether we did it by our own strength OR that we did it by God's guidance. it is sometimes a very fine thin line between flesh and spirit- even your closest friends or family members may not see it . like spiderman : the battle is within! BEWARE! long term trusting in the outcome of the flesh may make you numb to God's way of working and even numb to sin.-> the bible call it a hardened heart.

6. a false witness who breathes out lies - i mentioned lies earlier ... i am going to see this phrase from another angle. think opposite: we are called to be TRUE witness for christ, who speaks the truth! how is your testimony at home? at work? in school? in army? do you BEHAVE in the same manner in front of Christians on sunday, and then slip into another BEHAVIOR mode in front of your non-christian friends? are there certain words that you would choose NOT to say in front of christians, then say those words freely in school or at work? God's call: BMW! (be my witness!)

7. one who sows discord among brothers: i cant help but think about the countless conflicts ongoing in the universal church of God. If Christ is the head of the body, and we are called to be the arms and legs of this body, why cant we learn to forgive each other, and to confess our sins to one another. Are we sowing unhappiness, unforgiveness, bitterness, insincerity right here in our own community? (be it in CG,church,ministry or parachurch org) somehow, one way or another, WE are the ones to blame for staring 'a cycle of ungrace'.