Hate evil, love good

Amos 5:14-15 (NIV)

14 Seek good, not evil, that you may live. Then the Lord God Almighty will be with you, just as you say he is. 15 Hate evil, love good; maintain justice in the courts. Perhaps the Lord God Almighty will have mercy on the remnant of Joseph.

This chapter of Amos is a calling to the people to prepare to meet God. They have lived under deplorable conditions and sin was the cause. Their joy would come from seeking God; for God was waiting for them. They were told to seek good while hating evil. They were to maintain justice in the light of injustice. Maybe then God would see their repentance and have mercy on them.

Lee Strobel, in his book The Case for Faith, quotes Peter John Kreeft saying:  On my door there's a cartoon of two turtles. One says, "Sometimes I'd like to ask why he (God) allows poverty, famine, and injustice when he could do something about it." The other turtle says, "I'm afraid God might ask me the same question."

We often want to point to God as the cause for allowing our problems, when actually we are the responsible ones. Imagine looking out of a restaurant while enjoying your meal and seeing a homeless man and thinking, “God why don’t you provide that man with food.” It might just be a little hypocritical of God when you could buy the man some food yourself.

Instead of blaming God for all the things that are wrong in this world we need to learn from Jesus who was an example of how we should live our lives tending to the needs of others. As you follow Jesus, also follow His actions. Hate the evil in this world and love to do what is good and just.