but the prayer of the upright is acceptable to Him.
The way of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord,
but He loves Him who pursues righteousness...
The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord,
but gracious words are pure...
The Lord is far from the wicked,
but He hears the prayer of the righteous."
- Proverbs 15:8-9, 26, 29
We often hear well-meaning Christians wax passionate about God's love for everybody. They like to add qualifiers, such as "equally" or "unconditionally." In evangelism, they tell even the rankest unbeliever, "Jesus loves you." However, not only are those proclamations unbiblical, but they are destructive.
Think about this: If you convince an unbeliever that God loves him as he is, then why should he repent of his unbelief? Why should he repent of his wicked lifestyle? After all, you have just devoted your passion to telling him that God loves him unconditionally! Why change?
Yet, the Scriptures, to the contrary, tell us that even the religious performances of the unbeliever are an abomination (see also I Corinthians 11:27). The prayers of the unbeliever are unacceptable. His lifestyle is abominable. His thoughts are a wicked abomination. God is not contemplating love for the unbeliever, but is, rather, far from him (Isaiah 59:2). Those are descriptions of an enemy, not someone whom God loves.
Evangelism can never be the telling of an unbeliever that God loves him. That would be bearing false witness (Exodus 20:16, Deuteronomy 5:20). Rather, he must be warned that God is his enemy, and that His wrath is upon him: "Because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed" (Romans 2:5). He must be warned to flee to Jesus for refuge from that wrath, not encouraged to a false security in a supposed love of God for everyone.
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