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WHAT TO HATE
You cannot hate a person's lifestyle, but you, as a born-again Christian, cannot ... must not ... hate that person, especially another Christian. He may be doing what he's doing because he's ignorant or he doesn't know any better.
A couple other reasons could be because he thinks that he can get away with it. It may be because of lust of the flesh, pride, or for recognition. "I want somebody to know who I am ... if I do this thing, I'll be recognized." But recognized in what light ... a good light or bad light? In other words, is this person glorifying God because of his actions or is he glorifying "self"?
Sometimes things happen to a person that are so wonderful and he feels so blessed. There's a mind set that says: "The reason you're blessed is because you're such a good person. God has just blessed you because you are who you are." Now who do you suppose is the source of these thoughts?
One of my friends was telling me how God has blessed him in his business, and he's giving the glory to God. I told him that this was good. I said: "You should give God the glory for it ... but you know what the best part of this is ... He will turn around and give it right back to you. But if you'd say ... 'Oh look at what I have done! God is on my side.' When you try to take the glory for that success, it won't be the same ... it will fall flat and you'll be sorry that you did that because that's all the reward you'll get. You take it and that's all you are going to have."
You wanted the glory for yourself and you got it. Now you'll have to deal with it. God will be waiting for you to realize the mistake you made here. He'll also be waiting for you to return to Him in repentance.
Reverend Robert Butler
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