When people say, “I just want love; I don’t want hate,” they haven’t thought things through.
One reason God selected His Son for the throne of the universe was this: “You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness” (Heb 1:9). They say a good gardener must not only love flowers; he must also hate weeds. Deuteronomy 6 is all about loving God and sharing that love with our children. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength…You shall teach them diligently to your children” (vv 5, 7). Deuteronomy 7 is the other half of the equation—what is it that God hates? And if He hates something, is He allowed to root out that evil? Many people today don’t think so. But if we truly love God, that means we will also hate what He hates. Can you truly love children and not hate abortion or child slavery or kiddie porn? Impossible! So Deuteronomy 7 is about the weeding process. We’ll tackle that difficult subject next time. God had brought the Israelites out of bondage in Egypt. Did He love them to the exclusion of everyone else? No, His intention from the beginning was that through them “all the nations of the earth shall be blessed” (Gen 22:18). Did He love and choose them because they were lovable? Hardly! “The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people…but because the Lord loves you” (Deut 7:7-8). God’s love is causeless, based on His character alone. “And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love” (1 Jn 4:16). Therefore His love is also changeless and ceaseless! If the cause of His love was something in us, and if that something changed, so would His love. But nothing can “separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 8:39). We are loved above!