TheGoodNewsCast.com

The tension between kind words and internal truths lies at the core of the Holy Scriptures. Proverbs 26 warns that "those who hate may camouflage it beneath pleasant words, but deep inside, treachery still rages; don't believe them when they speak kindly because their hearts are completely ruled by evil."

 

This observation cuts through the veneer of social pleasantries to address the deep: the danger is not the mere existence of negative emotions or the exposure of evil, but the conscious harboring of it. When an individual refuses to cast out wickedness and instead covers it in smooth flattery, that hidden darkness takes root and governs the individual.

 

This internal reservoir of hatred is expounded upon by Jesus in Matthew 15, where He challenges superficial notions of purity by declaring, "What you put into your mouth cannot make you clean or unclean; it is what comes out of your mouth that can make you unclean." Elaborating on His words, He asks, "Don’t you understand that whatever you take in through your mouth makes its way to your stomach and eventually out of the bowels of your body? But the things that come out of your mouth—your curses, your fears, your denunciations—these come from your heart, and it is the stirrings of your heart that can make you unclean. For your heart harbors evil thoughts—fantasies of murder, adultery, and whoring; fantasies of stealing, lying, and slandering. These make you unclean." Speech acts as an infallible indicator of what the heart has chosen to harbor. When evil is harbored rather than purged, it inevitably leaks past the lips, revealing the true condition of the soul.

 

Addressing this exact disconnect, Jesus noted in Matthew 15: "People honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are nowhere near Me… their worship of Me is a meaningless sham." Similarly, when God addressed His people through Malachi regarding half-truths, stating, "Bring in the whole tithe" alongside the principle of love and hate, He was declaring that pretending not to see or speak of evil is a form of corruption in itself. Suppressing what the heart hates behind polite pretense shields the very evil that ought to be brought to the light.

 

The necessity of exposure rather than concealment is further illuminated in Romans 9, which addresses God's calling and purpose: "The twins were in Rebekah’s womb when God said to her, 'The older will serve the younger.' This was not based on merit or actions; the twins had not done anything to please or displease God. This was God’s call on each son and His desired purpose. Just as the Scriptures say, 'I loved Jacob, but I hated Esau.' So how do we talk about that? Are God’s dealings unjust? Absolutely not!" God does not hide what is within His heart or His purpose; rather, He exposes what represents love and what represents hate, bringing truth out into the open rather than allowing it to fester in secret.

 

Ultimately, scripture commands that we are not to harbor evil within our hearts and not to let what God hates take dominion over our actions. Aligning with God's righteousness means hating what God hates and casting out demons rather than cloaking them in flattery.

 

However, above all, God hates separation from Him. As noted in John 12:46, the person who abides in Him is without sin because absolute light occupies Christ completely, meaning darkness cannot coexist or dwell within Him. As a result, His chosen, His people, and every believer abide in Christ as He abides in the Father, and the Holy Spirit abides in them, not defiling their bodies but speaking God's words, cleansing not only themselves but also those around them.

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TheGoodNewsCast.com invites you to step fully into the Holy Scriptures today, allowing Christ to completely occupy your heart so that no darkness can dwell or coexist within you. Commit to speaking the very words of God, letting the truth cleanse you and everyone around you.