Abhoring Evil

This past week on Thursday, the Lord gave me a big dose of Illumination of the Spirit. I have never had something so deeply convict me before in my life and now I want to share exactly how it happened and why.

Romans 12:9 

Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.

So I'm at camp. Memorizing Romans 12 is 200 bonus points each week for my team so I memorized Romans 12 as fast as I could. Each day during God-and-I time follow-up, we take apart sections of Romans 12 and we study it and I explain and teach my campers about it each week. After 7 weeks of teaching my campers all about Romans 12, I came to verse 9. "Abhor that which is evil." I was talking to my campers about what "Abhor" means and how strong of a hate word it really is. I was telling them about how I Abhor alcohol after seeing the crashes of DUI's and the effects I've seen that it has taken on families when one of my campers looks at me and said, "So if I'm to abhor evil, if someone takes God's name in vain, I need to hate it so much that I need to talk to that person about it?" I was like, "Exactly!" And then I said, "Guys, when we are watching movies, and a character uses God's name in vain, should we continue to watch that movie?" As soon as that sentence left my mouth, I literally felt like God had punched me in the stomach with conviction. So many times we tell people that using God's name is in vain, and we might not turn around and do it ourselves, but we are willing to condone it when it is played on a movie or TV show.

Exodus 20:7

Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; 

for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

It's very plain and simple. God  HATES  it when people take his name in vain. If you're like me, you would never dream of saying, "Oh my. . ." and then putting God's name there. But if you're like me, and that phrase is used on a movie, you look around awkwardly and hope it doesn't offend people when we should be taking offense that God's name was just blasphemed! It's evil, and just as Romans 12:9 says, "Abhor that which is evil." Abhor is a very strong term of hate. It is not used too often in the Bible.

So what happened?

After God-and-I time follow-up, I went back to my cabin and I got on my knees and before God I promised Him that whenever I hear people use His name in vain or if I'm watching a movie that uses His name in vain, that I will not condone that movie and I will refuse to watch it. I will get made fun for my decision, but before God I will have a clear conscience and that is all that matters. I will make my stand.