Love & Hate

21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD,and abhor those who rise up against you?

As in my favorite caveman saying, "Uh, What!" As Christians, are we suppose to hate? According to what I have read in the Bible, have been taught in Sunday School class and church, I don't think so!
First, God never hates anything or anyone whom He has created. If He hated anything He created, it would not have been created in the first place. Genesis 1 states, "And God saw that it was good." after each He created. No hate there. For Him to hate what He has created would mean He made mistakes and cannot correct it. He is a Mighty, Holy God who cannot make mistakes or hate what He has created. Yes, there are things God cannot do!
Secondly, if God does not hate that which He has created, we should not hate His creation either.
So why does David say this? Have you ever heard the statement, "Hate the sin, not the sinner"? Sin is just as much a verb as love. Just as love is an action, so sin takes action. Both love and hate are choices we make according to what we believe.
I will use myself as an example:
I love my country! I believe in her. I believe we are the greatest country among all the nations! I even love and pray for President Obama! Some of my friends would say, "WHAT! I thought you were a conservative Christian!"
I am, however, I hate some of the things President Obama has said about our country. I abhor his bowing down to an Arab leader. I detest his health care proposal for I feel it is wrong to socialize our health care. It unnerves me to know he does not care for our military men and women. These are his actions and choices which affects the whole country.
President Barak Obama is created in the image of God. When God created him, He saw that he was good. That alone gives me reason to love him enough to pray for him. I may not have voted for him, but I can respect the position given him BY GOD. The President of the United States is a highly stressful job and not one I would want to endure. This man educated himself with the desire to enter politics. Do you think he developed this desire by himself? God knew this before He created this man---way in advance. President Obama's victory was not just by vote, but by the authority of God. Does this mean God elected him to be president? God allowed the vote of the people by the people. For this reason, I will not read inflammatory emails, news, or cartoons about him.
We should not be using language of hate, but we should be crying out to God concerning him, his cabinet, and our governing officials! We should be speaking out against those things we know are wrong to our representatives, not bashing our President. We should not be shouting hateful things to him while he is giving his speeches. If we disagree, we should pray about what we need to say to him. He has an email address that he will read if we disagree respectfully.

El-Elyon, Lord God Most High,
We need Your forgiveness for hating people because of their actions instead of seeing them as You see them---flawed individuals like ourselves. Everyone You have created You have seen as good. Even though we have submitted to sin, You still love us and desire for us to draw closer to You. You desire fellowship with Your creation is the reason You created us. We need Your protection from Lucifer's hate for us, especially since he uses us in his hateful, contempt toward You and in his envy to who You are. Teach us that we do not have to be tolerent of sin, but can speak against it in Jesus' name as humble servants of His. All sin is what Jesus Christ died for as it says in John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life." May those who shun this truth learn this truth through the agape love You have shown to us. May Your grace and mercy shine forth that the lost may see Your true, pure mercy in Jesus' precious name, Amen!