Welcome to the Daily Blade. The Word of God is described as the sword of the spirit, the primary spiritual weapon in the Christian's armor against the forces of evil. Your hosts are Joby Martin and Kyle Thompson, and they stand ready to equip men for the fight. Let's sharpen up.

Good to have you back, guys. This week on The Daily Blade, we are

focusing on Ecclesiastes 3 versus 1 through 8. I'll read it again here. For everything,

there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven. A time to be born and a time to die.

A time to plant and a time to pluck up what is planted. A time to kill and a time to heal. A time to break down and a time to plant and a time to pluck up what is planted a time to kill and a time to heal a time to break down and a time to build up a time to weep and a time to laugh a time to mourn and a time to dance a time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones together a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing a time to seek and a time to lose a time to keep and a time to refrain from embracing. A time to seek and a time to lose.

A time to keep and a time to cast away. A time to tear and a time to sew. A time to keep silence

and a time to speak. A time to love and a time to hate. A time for war and a time for peace.

So specifically today we're keying in on the first part of verse 8, a time to love and a time for peace. So specifically today, we're keying in on the first part of

verse 8, a time to love and a time to hate. So as is true with the entire passage that we're

looking at in Ecclesiastes, there is a juxtaposition with each line. So the words are

different sides of the same coin, I guess. So you have weep versus laugh. You have mourn versus

dance. I mean, yes, Baptist, dancing is allowed. You have keep versus cast away. But in my opinion,

the juxtaposition in the first part of verse eight is the most striking. Love versus hate.

So in our modern moment, everything seemingly is about love. So we're constantly told by people

that don't believe in God and don't read the Bible that we are to love our neighbor. We are

simultaneously told that love is love, even if the love being expressed is contrary to God and to nature.

And if we don't boldly proclaim that is truth, then we are called a

hater, right? And beyond that, the terms love and hate are just kind of thrown around willy-nilly,

right? I mean, we'll say things like, dude, I love this pizza, or, man, I hate that band,

or something like that. So in a lot of ways, we've lost the appropriate categories for love and hate because culture has co-opted those words from God and because we use them cheaply, right?

But for us, as Christians, we have to make sure that we have right thinking and right actions as it pertains to love and hate. Because in order

to be a true follower of God, we must love what God loves and hate what God hates. I mean,

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