Hate evil, love good, And establish justice in the gate! Perhaps the LORD God of hosts May be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.
(Amos’s words were for the apostate Northern Kingdom.
They are still relevant for us in an ever more apostate culture.)
Hate is not the difficult part.
We don’t even struggle with the idea, “hate evil.”
We have trouble defining evil.
Therefore, we cannot rely on the media,
The arts, philosophy, financial status,
Popularity, politics, our hearts or any other source
To define evil.
God alone defines evil.
We must hate,
Avoid, stamp out,
Reject, scorn, separate from
Anything God says is evil.
Conversely,
We must love good.
Good as God defines it.
Good as it reflects God’s character.
We must love,
Seek out, emulate,
Promote, value, respect
Whatever God says is good.
If we do those things,
It will be easy to establish justice.
Our systems are not just.
Criminals are not punished.
Minorities are oversentenced.
Influence and money bend rules.
Because we love evil and hate the good.