"If you respect the Lord, you will also hate evil. I hate pride and bragging, evil and lies." ~Proverbs 8:13, NCV
Our lives as Christians need to revolve around one thing: our relationship with Jesus Christ, who is the Lord. In other versions, this verse says "fear the Lord" instead of "respect." Part of our relationship with Christ (and subsequent courage given from Him in trying situations) says that we need to obey His commandments - if we respect Him and what He stands for, we will hate evil. What is evil? According to this verse directly, there's three specific things:
- pride
An emotion or state of being where a person thinks so highly of him/herself that God takes second place.
- bragging
A direct descendant of pride, bragging takes the extra step of vocalizing the strongest parts of your pride.
- lies
Satan is the father of lies - so if we're gonna hate lies, we gotta hate him. Or at least what he's done...
Now this is stretching the verse a bit, but I'm going to do opposites - if I am to HATE EVIL, then I must LOVE GOOD.
The opposite of pride is humility, the state where a person is modest and respectful of others, and does not pass judgement on them. It also involves being content with oneself.
The opposite of bragging is, uh, complimenting. (I guess?) Seeing the strongest positive qualities in others and vocalizing your appreciation of those qualities.
The opposite of lies *drumroll please* is truth! Jesus is the way, the truth, and the light. He gave the Bible and His own example to follow.
Living in a relationship with Jesus is one practical way to eliminate your fear in real time, because He gives us all we need. Maintaining our relationship is vital!
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