Photo by OSPAN ALI on Unsplash
By Mike Chaffin
Stop bringing me your meaningless gifts; the incense of your offerings disgusts me! As for your celebrations of the new moon and the Sabbath and your special days for fasting— they are all sinful and false. I want no more of your pious meetings. Isaiah 1:13
Going through the motions. A head fake instead of heartfelt faith. Lack of love for Christ. Judgmental, unfriendly hypocrites who call themselves Christian. All this disgusts God.
Disgust is best defined as something that is aversive, repulsive, or immoral to the point where we have an adverse psychological or physical reaction.
Perhaps the best-known verse about Jesus’ disgust for the ways of wishy-washy Christians is in the letter to Laodicea.
15 “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. 16 So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. 17 Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked— 18 I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. 19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. Revelation 3:15-19
When God gets disgusted with His children for our poor behavior he chastens and rebukes. The lesson here is to be zealous of the Lord and to repent for our lack of love for His ways. When He gets disgusted enough with unbelievers His righteous anger will come down hard on those who don’t repent.
Christians can also get disgusted, and we can sometimes disgust non-Christians. The usual ways we disgust non-Christians is by being judgmental, unfriendly, or hypocritical about our faith. John said non-believers will know us by our love. However, if we aren’t friendly, they won’t see love. Judgement of someone’s sinful lifestyle is fine if we aren’t committing a similar sin. However, that judgement shouldn’t condemn the sinner, but it should lead us to go to them and tell them how Jesus saved us from similar sins.
We can be disgusted by evil and should be. It should repulse us enough to stay away and pray. Disgust is a trigger to let us know not to get involved in something that will take us away from God’s direction. It is God’s way of warning us and when we don’t heed that warning and fall into sin, in His mercy He sends us into the emotion of shame to hopefully help us see the error of our ways, turn and repent.
Prayer: Dear Lord, thank you for your mercy toward us, for forgiving us of our sins. Help me to remember when I am disgusted with myself to run to you, seek your forgiveness and direction in my life. In Jesus’ name, amen.
