Must Love What Is Good
AN ELDER MUST LOVE WHAT IS GOOD
In Titus 1:8, we read that an elder is to be characterized as one “loving what is good.” In Amos 5:15, we read, “Hate evil, love good, and establish justice in the gate! . . . .” (NAS). Here the prophet Amos tells Israel that they need to repent and “love what is good.” This instruction comes at a time when Israel is “in love” with the wrong things, like idolatry, pride, and selfish ambition.
Similarly, in Rom. 12:9 we read these words, “Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good” (NAS). And then in Prov. 8:13, “The fear of the LORD is to hate evil; pride and arrogance and the evil way, and the perverted mouth, I hate” (NAS). As Christians, we are love what God loves and hate what God hates. “Hate evil, you who love the LORD, who preserves the souls of His godly ones; He delivers them from the hand of the wicked” (Ps. 97:10, NAS). One cannot claim to love God and yet also love evil or sin.
A man that is a spiritual leader in the church and is not interested in the importance of Bible Study, steadfastness in worship, sound preaching and teaching, holiness in living, purity in doctrine, Christian fellowship and reaching the lost is a man that does not “love what is good.” Unfortunately, there are many who call themselves “spiritual leaders” who fall into that category.
We can see that the man who aspires to the work of elder must be one who hates evil, and loves God. He must also be one who loves what is good. Does this man love generosity, compassion, sound biblical worship, holiness, fellowship and the Word of God? Does he hate quarreling, unfaithfulness, sin and false teaching? If so, this man possesses the characteristic of “loving what is good.”
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