Psalm 97:10-12
“O you who love the Lord, hate evil! He preserves the light of his saints; he delivers them from the hand of the wicked. Light is sown for the righteous, and joy for the upright in heart. Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous, and give thanks to his holy name!”
Hate evil—that seems like such an obvious command. If you asked someone if they loved evil, no one in their right mind would ever say yes. Yet evil is exactly what we are. How much easier it is to do what is wrong, rather than right. It is easier to be fake, and to lie about who we truly are, than to be honest and real. It is easier to make others look bad, in order to make ourselves more appealing. It is easier to just dwell in darkness and not let the light come in, because the light illuminates, the light exposes, the light shows us who we truly are and what we are really made of. As much as I deny it, sin is my very nature, it is what I am made of, but not what I was intended to be. I, Charis Bassi, was made in the image of God, to reflect the glory of His likeness. I was not created to follow my flesh, to walk in my will, and make a name for myself. I was created to follow the spirit of God, to walk in His will (no matter how terrifying it may seem), and to proclaim the name of Jesus Christ. And if I would only believe in Him, that evil inside of me will be overcome by the righteousness of Jesus Christ. He makes me upright in heart, and gives me a cause for joy amidst a dying world. He holds my life, he establishes my steps, and he delivers me in all of my troubles. So if I truly love the Lord, than I can push past the pain, kill my flesh into submission, and walk as He walked on this earth. How could I not do that for my God. He sent His son—perfect, holy, and blameless—to an earth that blasphemed against Him, and forsook His name. He was the one that everyone was waiting for, but nobody knew Him. I want to know Him. I want his light to eradicate the darkness inside of me, even if that means discovering the deepest, and scariest parts of my soul. Because embracing the light is embracing victory. Embracing the light is a life preserved, a joy illuminated, and a heart revived to recognize the grace of God that surrounds us. I want to recognize the grace of God. I want to see my sin, and remember that my holy God loves me. I want to see Jesus in people’s eyes, in the blooming flowers, the rainy skies, the incredibly beautiful days and the incredibly painful ones, because both are promised. But who doesn’t? Who doesn’t want to see the beautiful, overlooked things of life? Yet, so many don’t, and so often I don’t. I think the key is to know the darkness. You can’t recognize and appreciate light, until you are stuck in the dark. You can’t be helped until you recognize the need within you. You can’t see good, until yo go through the good, the bad, and the ugly. You can’t know the joy of victory, until you experience a few defeats. It’s honesty. It’s being honest with ourselves and with God, and realizing that our Amazing God, rich in love and abounding in mercy, wants a people who are so quick to turn away from Him. He loves us, and hates our evil. I love Him, and hate my evil, and He promises to deliver me, and bring me into the light. That is beautiful, and that is just another thing I have to be grateful for.
Application: I have a list of one thousand things that I am grateful for, and I want to get that list to two thousand things, by the time reentry ends at the end of October. Seeing God’s grace, means seeing me for who I am not, and that is something I so desperately need to be reminded of every day!
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