To fear the LORD is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech.  Counsel and sound judgment are mind; I have understanding and power (Proverbs 8:13-14).

I hate evil.  My own conscience is easily pricked, and I'm genuinely bothered when I see other people acting in immoral ways.  I get angry when I witness injustice.  I cannot stand to watch someone steamroll another person just for the sake of gratifying their own selfish, sinful desires.  I hate evil so very much that it makes me sick to my stomach sometimes.

I hate pride and arrogance, too.  It burns me up to listen to some idiot extolling his own virtues and disdaining others who are doing the best they can with what they've got.  Something in me rises up in the face of such pride and arrogance.  I feel a fight boiling in my blood.  I'm incited to knock the arrogance right out of the idiot by whatever means necessary.  Toppling someone from their self-erected pedestal is not an easy thing to do, but in my heart I feel that it has to be done.  I've subconsciously made it one of my life's missions to wage a war, a deep-seeded blood vendetta against arrogant, aristocratic attitudes -- in society, in education, in politics, and in religion.  Suffice to say:  I hate pride and arrogance with a passion.

I hate perverse speech just as much as I hate evil behavior.  God, why can't people control themselves when it comes to gossip and deceit?!?  Why are we always tearing each other down with our words?  How is it that our slimy little tongues can wreak such havoc?  People with perverse speech are a cancer on the human race!  Whenever I hear someone flapping his jaw at someone else, I want to grab an industrial-strength stapler and some super-glue to go do a bit of "surgery" on the person's mouth.  I don't know what else to say except "Don't say it, if it has any tones of impropriety or perversity."

So if I really hate evil and pride and perverse speech so much, then I guess I must fear the LORD, according to Proverbs 8:13-14.  Right?  This means I have understanding and power.  Doesn't it?  I like being understanding.  I like having power.

The only problem is that I can sometimes take things a little bit too far (I say this in case you didn't already notice it from the diatribe above).  My "hatred of evil" can sometimes morph into a smug self-righteousness.  I can become judgmental -- which is a form of pride.  Because I can be so stubborn about claiming the moral high ground, I end up looking down on people an awful lot... And that's just not good.  My thoughts simmer and eventually bubble out of my mouth, poisoning others around me (such a progression is inevitable really).  And all of the sudden, I'm the total package:  evil, prideful, arrogant -- both in behavior and in speech.  Without even thinking about it, I'm suddenly against the LORD.  I find myself in a position of depravity, weakness, and powerlessness.  And -- thank God! -- this ultimately brings me back to a position of applying the Gospel to my life.  Like it says in Romans chapter 7 (one of my all-time favorite sections of Scripture):  "What a wretched man I am!  Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!"