Deadly Love

(Proverbs 8:36 KJV)  But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love death.

Believers have no problem with the statement that there are those who sin against God.  After all, that is the reason Jesus needed to face the cross.  What many have trouble with is the idea that they “love” (157) “death” (4194).

I would understand this love to be part of the rebellious nature of sin.  I don’t think of it as being a literal meaning here.  They are not seeking death or we would have suicides on the level of genocide.  I think this is the figurative meaning of being separated from God.  If you look back at the promise of God for eating of the tree of knowledge you see the verb form.

(Genesis 2:17 KJV)  But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

When they ate from the tree they did not fall dead on the ground but were ejected from the garden.

We are surrounded by people who do not want to be in the presence of God.

So?  Don’t feel you are rejected for living righteously, know it.  As the world wants nothing to do with a holy God they also want nothing to do with you.  You are a reminder of the One whom they want nothing to do with.