My dear readers,

Life Pleasing or Hated by the LORD!

Proverbs 15:9: “ The way of the wicked is an abomination unto the LORD: but he loveth him that followeth after righteousness.”

Backsliding is too common for a believer’s own good. The flippant testimony of those who backslide does not help but hurts. The impression given to many is that the sin of backsliding is not a big deal. Some even believe that it is a necessary evil in every believer’s life, as if all believers will experience backsliding in one way of another! This low view of the Christian life is a sin. It is a serious misrepresentation of what God has always intended for every believer’s life! Backsliding should never happen in a believer’s life. Loving the world and living in carnality are grievous sins and are the bane of too many ruined lives and testimonies. This has to stop! Proverbs 15:9 warns of the danger of loving the world and gives hope to those who live in righteousness that they must persevere on.

The literal translation of the above verse is: “An abomination to the LORD is the way of the wicked but the one who runs after righteousness, he loves.” This is a chiastic structure where the emphasis is on the contrast of the LORD’s responses.

A well trodden way of the wicked : The things the LORD considers to be an “abomination” are few. But here we have a sin that is so common that many of us do not even call it a sin; and yet it is an abomination to the LORD. An abomination is something that is obnoxious to God. Why? The way of the wicked refers to a well-trodden road, i.e. a pattern of life. This is not a description of a moment of weakness or foolishness whereby a person sins and sincerely repents of it. For example, a person might lie out of fear and regrets it almost immediately and repents of it sincerely before God in Christ. He tells the truth most of the time.

However, the way of the wicked is about someone who tells lies almost all the time, so much so that he feels comfortable to keep on lying. His conscience is numb to his own lies. It is his well trodden way of life. It is second nature to him. Lying includes the sins of hypocrisy, deception, and all forms of pretence where the person speaks and acts with an ulterior motive. What makes it an abomination to the LORD is that this person calls himself a Christian! He maligns the holy Name of Christ by his lifestyle of lies. He is a liar and he is saying to others that Christ is also a liar like him! All forms of well-trodden sinful ways committed by people who call themselves Christians, i.e. God's people, are abominations to the LORD.

It is imperative that all true believers repent of their sins as soon as possible. To hold on to them and not get rid of them by sincere repentance before the LORD could very well reveal a deeper issue. The deeper issue is that the person might not be born again in the first place. The word “abomination” is not used by God to refer to a person who is not a child of God. Making the sinful way into a well trodden lifestyle in the Land of Promise would result in causing others to sin and condemning the Gentiles to hell. The Jews were the only people of God. Without their proper testimony for Christ, there was no one else. That is why the way of the wicked, professing believer is an abomination to the LORD.

A continual pursuit after righteousness : However, God reveals to us that there is another way that is pleasing to Him. It is not called “the way.” It is described as “the one who runs after righteousness.” It is not called the way of righteousness, as one would reasonably conclude. The one who runs after righteousness describes a person who persistently pursues after righteousness, for he knows that the moment he stops he would be running away from righteousness and running after wickedness or iniquities instead. There is no other alternative. The word “running” is intense. Sometimes it is used to describe running after someone with a determination to fulfil a particular intent. An example is in Genesis 14:15 where Abraham pursued after those who captured Lot and his family. “ And he divided himself against them, he and his servants, by night, and smote them, and pursued them unto Hobah, which is on the left hand of Damascus.” Abraham did not stop until he found them and delivered Lot. Another example is Genesis 31:23 where Laban pursued Jacob and his family for seven days until he caught up to them. “ And he took his brethren with him, and pursued after him seven days' journey; and they overtook him in the mount Gilead.”

The one who runs after righteousness will not stop until he finds righteousness. The world and the devil will try to distract him with threats and seduction of good things in life. But this person who runs after righteousness will not stop because he is focused on righteousness. He will not take his eyes off his righteous target. When he falls into sin, and he knows he will no matter how hard he tries not to sin, he will repent and turn back to righteousness immediately! This is a lifelong race. At every phase of his life, from childhood to adulthood, he is not deterred from pursuing after righteousness. The cares of the world or its deceitfulness will not succeed as well. His pursuit after righteousness includes studying the Word of God consistently and faithfully, for the way of righteousness is from God and not from man or this evil world. He prays for God's help and enabling daily, for he knows that by his own strength alone he cannot succeed. It has to be by the power of God that his pursuit of righteousness will last a lifetime and end in victory before God.

Such a person is the one whom the LORD loves! Proverbs 15:9 does not say that the LORD loves the person’s pursuit of righteousness. It says that the LORD loves the person himself! The people of God and their life of righteousness cannot be separated. They are intrinsically linked together when the person is born again in Christ. The one whom the LORD loves is a child of God whose life characterizes the attributes of God. The world sees him and sees God.

His outward body looks the same as everyone else, but his life of righteousness reflects the person of Christ.

If we are born again in Christ, we and our lives must be pleasing to the LORD!