Directing Revulsion
Hating what is wrong without discarding a person.
Have you ever read a piece of news and felt your whole body recoil? Revulsion is fast and physical. Something is wrong and you do not have to work it out. The trouble comes a step later, when the feeling stops pointing at the wrong thing and starts pointing at a person.
Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.
Romans 12:9
Two instructions sit in one breath here. Love without dissimulation means love with no pretending. And straight after it, abhor that which is evil. Scripture does not ask you to be mild about what is wrong, and a real recoil at cruelty is part of being honest. But notice the target. The evil, not a class of people. The next line tells the same readers to prefer one another in honour.
So revulsion is not automatically a fault to repent of. It can be your conscience working. The question is what it does next. Abhorring evil and cleaving to good keeps you moving. Deciding that a person is beyond help stops you, and this passage never makes that move. You can refuse a thing, keep your distance where that is wise, and still leave the person’s future with God.
Today, take one thing that revolted you this week and write it in two lines: the wrong itself, then the person. Refuse the wrong out loud. Over the person, pray one sentence: “Lord, I do not get to decide who is finished.”
I can hate what is wrong without deciding a person is finished.
If the recoil traces back to something done to you, and it keeps returning on its own, telling a doctor or a mental health professional is a good step. Bringing it to God and asking for that help belong together.
Romans 12:9