When Jesus comes into my life as my savior, it is like he is an invited guest in my home, but there is another step that must be taken in our spiritual development.
It is about surrendering our lives to him. At that point, Jesus is not only my savior. He is now my Lord. He is not just an invited guest in my home. He now owns the place.
That’s what it means to surrender ourselves completely to the lordship of Jesus Christ. I now desire his will more than my own. The two big events I have described here are salvation and sanctification.
To be sanctified is to be holy. The moment we surrender ourselves to God on this level, he begins a process to make us more like Jesus. This journey begins with a decision, and it continues through our lifetime, until one day, we see Jesus face to face.
As Christ followers, we need to realize God hates sin. He hates sin because it is the antithesis of who he is. Psalm 5:4 says, “You are not a God who takes pleasure in evil; with you the wicked cannot dwell.” God is holy. He does not coexist with sin.
In fact, sin separates us from him. That’s what the Old Testament prophet Isaiah said in Isaiah 59:2: “But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you so that he will not hear.”
Sin is what caused Adam and Eve to run away from God and hide in the garden of Eden in the first place. Sin is deceptive. It blinds us to the truth. It will enslave us and ultimately destroy us if we don’t deal with it decisively.
That is why it is so important that we understand the nature of God and the nature of sin. Sin is the barrier that separates us from God.
God hates sin, not only because it separates us from him, but because it lessens our love for him. “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” (1 John 2:15).
James 4:4 tells us that friendship with the world is hatred toward God. “Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.”
The Psalmist David said the Lord would not have listened to his prayers if he hadn’t confessed his sin (Psalm 66:18). We’ll pick up there next time.
You may read Steve Greene’s blog at pastorgreene.wordpress.com or you can email him at [email protected].