Love/Hate Relationship

I turned 54 in December and one of the things I have noticed is the older I get and the more mature I become in Christ, the more I hate my own sin. When we’re young and feel bulletproof, it’s easy to know we shouldn’t do something, say something, or act a certain way, but we kind of love to hate those things. We can “play” with sin, thinking things like “I got this under control,” “I can stop anytime I want,” even “I deserve this every once in a while.”

It’s a lot like having a pet cobra. Everyone thinks it’s dangerously cool until someone dies.

When we’re younger and less mature, we focus on other people’s sin and let it bother us, often tolerating our own, even ignoring our own. I’m finding these days, mine bothers me more than anyone’s. So my focus is increasingly on getting rid of my own, not getting rid of yours.

Back in the day, my favorite Christian artist was Mylon Lefevre. One of his biggest hits was “Love God, Hate Sin.” Isn’t it interesting that the more we love the Lord, the more we hate our sin, because we begin to view it from His eyes and what it causes, rather than our view of tolerating and maintaining it, so no one notices? Or so we like to think.

So, today, here’s a tough question: How much of your sin do you love? For myself, how much of my sin do I love? How much am I entertaining it, justifying it, thinking I’ll get around to dealing with that one day? What actions and attitudes are still hanging around when we told ourselves it would be dealt with long ago?

One of my mentors, Dr. Frankie Rainey, often teaches, “The Christian is given a new choice: to not sin.”

This article isn’t about condemnation or guilt, but an encouragement to action. To mature, to grow, to finally leave behind what has entangled us for far too long. And, yeah, to love God and hate sin. Thanks, Mylon, wherever you are.

Well then, shall we keep on sinning so that God can keep on showing us more and more kindness and forgiveness? Of course not! Should we keep on sinning when we don’t have to? For sin’s power over us was broken when we became Christians and were baptized to become a part of Jesus Christ; through his death the power of your sinful nature was shattered. —Romans 6:1-3 TLB