Seven Things God Hates: A Mirror for Your Heart

Proverbs 6:16-19 lays out a short and sobering list: seven attitudes the LORD hates. Jean Calvin Nana holds up this mirror in front of you, not to frighten you, but to help you walk in God's perfect will.

Introduction: a message that touches a nerve

There are messages you'd rather listen to with your eyes half closed. This is one of them. Jean Calvin Nana says it upfront: this one is a little different, because it's going to touch a nerve. But it's necessary if you want to walk in God's perfect will.

God has plans of blessing for your life, not plans of disaster. To discover them, you need to learn his heart: what he loves, but also what he detests. There are attitudes and behaviors God hates. He names them, one by one, in Proverbs 6:16-19: "There are six things which Yahweh hates; yes, seven which are an abomination to him: arrogant eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are swift in running to mischief, a false witness who utters lies, and he who sows discord among brothers."

Seven things. Seven mirrors for your heart. Look at them with the Lord.

Outline of the message

1. Arrogant eyes: the pride that leaves God out

The first thing the LORD detests is arrogant eyes. In other words: pride. The proud person considers himself superior to others, even though God's Word says the greatest must be the servant of all. That's paradoxical, yes. In the world, the greatest crushes everyone else. In God's house, the greatest is the one who washes his brothers' feet, and it's the Lord Jesus himself who showed you this example by washing his apostles' feet.

The proud person's tendency is to despise his neighbor, to carry a spirit of self-sufficiency, convinced that what he has is purely the fruit of his own strength and intelligence. He even makes his plans without God. He relies only on his own ability. But Proverbs 16:5 is clear: "Everyone who is proud in heart is an abomination to Yahweh; they will certainly not be unpunished."

The sharpest example is found in Luke 12:19-21. That man who had gathered a great harvest and said to his soul: "Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years. Take your ease, eat, drink, be merry." But God said to him: "You foolish one, tonight your soul is required of you. The things which you have prepared, whose will they be?" And Jesus concludes: "So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God."

What good will it do you to have gained everything if you lose your soul? God brings down the proud and lifts up his servants. Look at David, a simple shepherd whom the LORD made a great king after his own heart. Look at Joseph, a foreigner, a slave, a prisoner in Egypt: humanly speaking, nothing left to do. But God stepped in and made him prime minister of Egypt. Why? Because these men were humble and put God before everything else.

2. The lying tongue: refusing to be a child of the father of lies

The second thing the Lord detests is the lying tongue. God's Word tells you to let your yes be yes and your no be no, because whatever goes beyond that comes from the evil one. Lying has no place in the mouth of a child of God.

It sounds basic, but the Lord wants to remind you of it again and again. The devil is the father of lies; he has been a liar from the beginning. His lying work shows up as early as the creation of the world, in the garden of Eden. He starts by planting doubt in the woman's heart, then he lies to her outright: "You won't surely die. You will be like gods." Through the lie, he deceives the first humans. Sin enters the world, and with sin, death. That's what a lie produces: it leads to death.

But you are not a child of the devil. You are a child of God. You are called to stand firm against the devil's lie and commit to speaking the truth, nothing but the truth. That's what you're called to.

3. Hands that shed innocent blood: even indirectly

Life is sacred. That's why those who shed innocent blood are an abomination to the LORD. You must have no part, near or far, in any scheme that would lead to bloodshed. It may be the one thing that, once undone, can never be undone again.

Note that blood can also be shed indirectly. The example is Pontius Pilate, Roman governor of Judea-Samaria in Jesus's time. When Jesus is brought to him for judgment, he finds nothing worthy of death. But because of the crowd demanding the Lord's death, he hands him over anyway. Despite his symbolic gesture (washing his hands, declaring his innocence), history remembers that he shared responsibility in the Lord's death. He had the power to acquit him; he didn't. He took part indirectly.

This reminds you to use discernment so you don't take part, even indirectly, in other people's sins. As 1 Timothy 5:22 says: "Don't be a participant in other people's sins." It's never worth it. Stay watchful as a child of God.

4. A heart that devises wicked schemes: guard your heart above all else

The fourth thing God detests: a heart that devises wicked schemes. Proverbs 4:23 calls you to guard your heart above everything else, for out of it flow the springs of life. Every plan, whether good or evil, has its source in the heart.

When you don't guard your heart, you let it become infected with bad thoughts, bad inclinations. And those bad inclinations breed all kinds of malice. You give in to jealousy, gossip, slander: it can happen even in the body of Christ if we don't stay watchful. No one is immune. When a heart isn't kept pure, love grows cold and shrivels, the fear of God fades, the Holy Spirit is grieved, the life of the spirit withers. You end up going through the motions out of habit, no longer led by the Spirit of God, simply because you didn't guard your heart.

Matthew 15:18-20 reminds you: "But the things which proceed out of the mouth come out of the heart, and they defile the man. For out of the heart come forth evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, sexual sins, thefts, false testimony, and blasphemies. These are the things which defile the man."

Look at Cain (Genesis 4). He plots evil in his heart because his offering isn't accepted while his brother Abel's is. He doesn't guard his heart; he lets hatred in. Yet the LORD confronts him with tremendous counsel: "Why are you angry? Why has the expression of your face fallen? If you do well, won't it be lifted up? If you don't do well, sin crouches at the door. Its desire is for you, but you are to rule over it." (Genesis 4:6-7). It wasn't inevitable. He had the chance to act differently and find favor before God's face. But he did as he pleased. He made the wrong choice, driven by hatred, and became the first murderer in human history.

Matthew 5:8: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." Follow the example of Enoch, who walked with God and whom he took away (Genesis 5:24). Follow the example of Abraham, to whom the Lord said: "Walk before me, and be blameless." He is today the father of faith, and all nations are blessed in him. Follow the example of Job, that blameless man who walked in uprightness before God. That's what you're called to: to be an Enoch, an Abraham, a Job for our times.

5. Feet swift to run to evil: sanctification, a process

The fifth thing God detests: feet that are swift in running to mischief. The Lord calls you not to practice evil. 1 John 3:9 says: "Whoever is born of God doesn't commit sin, because his seed remains in him; and he can't sin, because he is born of God." It's possible to walk in sanctification and reach holiness.

You may still fall. So what's the right response? The choice you make after a fall shapes the whole rest of your relationship with God. Jean Calvin Nana identifies three.

Response 1: complete blindness. Not reacting at all, even settling into sin. These people are like dogs that return to their own vomit. A striking image. They no longer respond; they're in spiritual danger. Yet in Matthew 7:23, the Lord says: "I never knew you. Depart from me, you who work iniquity." It's terrifying: people who walked among God's people but were never known by the Lord. Work at your faith.

Response 2: asking forgiveness without a firm resolve to break away. That would be tempting God: confessing a sin while knowing you'll return to it. That's why Jude 23 says you must hate "even the clothing stained by the flesh." It should be a survival reflex. A sin confessed without firm resolve leaves the door open: the devil will come back, again and again, and that person will become a prisoner of the evil one. So when you confess a sin that clings to you, resolve never to return to it, not by your own strength, but by the strength and power of God, the God of deliverance. Whatever chain holds you captive, God is able to free you from it. Simply come to him in faith.

Response 3: the right response. Acknowledge your sin before God, grieve over it (because it's an offense against your God), resolve to abandon it, believe in faith that Jesus died so your sin could be forgiven, believe that the blood of Jesus cleanses you from all wrongdoing, let go of all feelings of guilt, and thank the Lord for his forgiveness.

1 John 2:1-2 assures you: "My little children, I write these things to you so that you may not sin. If anyone sins, we have a Counselor with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. And he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the whole world's."

God's will for his children is that they flee sin at any cost and walk in sanctification. 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8 repeats it with force: "For this is the will of God: your sanctification (...) For God called us not for uncleanness, but in sanctification. Therefore he who rejects this doesn't reject man, but God, who has also given his Holy Spirit to you."

Holiness is a state: God is holy. Sanctification is a process that brings you into holiness and keeps you there throughout your walk with the Lord. And the enemy of holiness is sin. Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit; you must keep it sanctified so the Lord can reign in a sanctified environment and use you powerfully to advance his kingdom.

6. The false witness: refusing an age of half-truths

Sixth: the false witness who utters lies. You live in an age of lies. Truths get twisted every which way to mean something else. You swim in an environment of half-truths. People are anxious about making a transaction, wondering if they're about to be scammed. Even public authorities are overwhelmed by the scale of false advertising.

Facing these attitudes, children of God must be careful: discern situations of falsehood every single time so as not to take part in them. What's also troubling is that the false witness creates innocent victims. Someone acting in good faith can lose their rights because of a false witness's lie. The false witness creates injustice, yet our God is a God of justice. Stay far from anything that resembles false testimony.

When the young man comes to ask Jesus what to do to have eternal life, one of the commandments the Lord reminds him of is precisely: "Don't give false testimony." (Mark 10:19). May the Lord keep you from this sin.

7. Sowing discord among brothers: working at unity

Last point: those who sow discord among brothers. The Lord loves the unity of his people. He loves it when his children are gathered together. That's why he detests those who stir up quarrels to create division.

One of Jesus's prayers, before returning to the Father, was precisely about the unity of his church. John 17:11: "That they may be one, even as we are." The unity of God's people is close to the Lord's heart. He prayed not only for the church of the apostles' time, but also for your church today.

You are called to work at preserving the unity of the body of Christ by avoiding needless quarrels, needless disputes, gossip, slander, and division. A spirit of rivalry can creep in, but pursue peace with everyone instead, loving your brothers and sisters with the same love the Lord first showed you. Bear with one another, support one another, don't abandon your congregation, but keep a spirit of reconciliation, submitting to one another in humility. Then the world will speak well of the Lord's church, and many sheep still outside the fold will be able to join the church and be saved. This is why the Lord Jesus came down to this earth.

Key takeaways

• Seven mirrors to face. Arrogant eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet swift to run to evil, a false witness, one who sows discord: these are the seven attitudes the LORD hates (Proverbs 6:16-19).
• God doesn't give you this list to scare you. He gives it to you so you can walk in his perfect will, in the plans of blessing he has formed for you.
• The root of it all is the heart. Guard your heart above everything else, for out of it flow the springs of life (Proverbs 4:23).
• When you fall, don't sink deeper. Confess, break resolutely with the sin, and trust your Counselor, Jesus Christ (1 John 2:1-2).
• Sanctification is a process. It isn't out of reach: God calls you to it and gives you his Holy Spirit to lead you there (1 Thessalonians 4:1-8).

Personal application

1. In front of which of these seven mirrors is my reflection most unsettling right now?
2. What project have I carried out without God, relying only on my own strength and intelligence?
3. Is there a sin I keep confessing without ever making a firm resolve to break with it, and why?
4. What does my heart dwell on when I'm alone: life or death, peace or bitterness?
5. What needless quarrel, gossip, or division could I defuse this week in my congregation?

Verses cited

• Proverbs 6:16-19 · the seven things the LORD hates
• Proverbs 16:5 · everyone proud in heart is an abomination to Yahweh
• Luke 12:19-21 · the fool who lays up treasure for himself
• 1 Timothy 5:22 · don't be a participant in other people's sins
• Proverbs 4:23 · guard your heart above everything else
• Matthew 15:18-20 · what comes out of the heart defiles the man
• Genesis 4:6-7 · sin crouches at the door
• Matthew 5:8 · blessed are the pure in heart
• 1 John 3:9 · whoever is born of God doesn't commit sin
• Matthew 7:23 · I never knew you
• Jude 23 · hate even the clothing stained by the flesh
• 1 John 2:1-2 · we have a Counselor with the Father
• 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8 · this is the will of God: your sanctification
• Mark 10:19 · don't give false testimony
• John 17:11 · that they may be one, even as we are

FAQ

Do these seven attitudes only apply to major sins, or to my ordinary life too?

They apply first to your ordinary life. Pride, the small lie, the whispered gossip, the quarrel that poisons a group: these are everyday attitudes. Jean Calvin Nana insists, it sounds basic, but the Lord wants to remind you of it again and again, because that's where your walk is truly tested.

If God hates these attitudes, does that mean he hates me when I fall into them?

No. God hates these attitudes precisely because he loves you and has formed plans of blessing for your life. He doesn't want to see these things in the lives of his children. When you fall, you have a Counselor with the Father, Jesus Christ (1 John 2:1-2). Acknowledge, break away, receive forgiveness, and move forward.

How do I know if my repentance is real, or if I'm "tempting God" as described in Jude 23?

Real repentance takes a firm resolve to break with sin, relying not on your own strength but on the power of the God of deliverance. If you confess while inwardly knowing you'll return to it at the first gust of wind, that isn't real repentance. The test: do you hate this sin enough to want to be separated from it, the way you'd throw off a stained garment?