That God hates feet that run towards evil is not surprising. He is morally perfect and pure. He is light, “and in Him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). John is teaching that, due to the nature of God, we cannot live in sin and maintain fellowship with Him. This is in keeping with the moral character of God. He cannot tolerate sin. It is easy to see, then, how God would have a distaste for someone who is quick to run toward evil. Indeed, God hates it when anyone shows affection for sin. As for man, sin is our greatest adversary. It is the only thing that can separate us from God and cause us to spend eternity in hell. Certainly, we should hate sin too, and be greatly annoyed by feet that run toward it. What is your attitude toward evil? Do you stay as far away from it as possible, or do you enjoy getting as close to sin as you can without becoming a partaker of it? It is surprising how many Christians seem to enjoy flirting with sin. You know what they say about fire—“If you play with fire, you get burned.” This is commonsense. It is also commonsense not to play around with sin. Still, there are many people, both in the world and in the church, who are quick to run toward trouble. As Christians, we should make a habit of running away from evil, not toward it. Paul told the Corinthians to flee sexual immorality (1 Corinthian 6:18), and then later to flee idolatry (1 Corinthians 10:14). He taught Timothy to flee the love of money (1 Timothy 6: 11 ), as well as, youthful passions (2 Timothy 2:22). Even in the garden of Eden, God commanded Adam and Eve, not only to, not eat of the tree in the midst of the garden, but to not even touch it (Genesis 3:3).

What kind of feet do you have? Do you have the kind of feet that runs toward evil or away from it? I know Christians who will not go to popular beaches while on vacation because they know there will be a lot of people in immodest apparel there, and they do not want to see it. Is that impressive to you? It should be. On the other hand, I know that some Christians think there is nothing wrong with sitting down right next to sin and conversing with it because they think they can resist its advances. They are usually wrong. Why not follow the instructions of the Psalmist instead. Listen to what he wrote.

Psalm 1:1 (ESV)
1 Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers;

This should be how we conduct ourselves, avoiding the fellowship of sinners and the practice of sinful things. This does not mean that we try to isolate ourselves from sinners altogether, for then, how will we reach them? However, we should use good judgment and try to teach them about Jesus on our side of the field, not theirs. I once heard of a preacher conducting a Bible class at Hooters. In case you are not familiar with Hooters, it is the restaurant where the uniforms for the waitresses are purposely skimpy and immodest, and, as they say, leave little to the imagination. Does going to a place like that sound like avoiding evil or running toward it?

When you watch inappropriate television shows, you running toward evil. When you listen to music that is full of cursing and has lyrics that disrespect and degrade women, you are running toward evil. When you attend functions where people are drinking alcohol and doing other things that are contrary to the will of God, you are running toward evil. Instead of that, pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace (2 Timothy 2:22). In doing so, you will be doing something that God loves, not hates, and that is always the right course to follow.

As you wind down for the night, think on these things.