It is definitely more than a ticket out of hell. More than the pass into heaven. More than a title. More than a knowledge you are the son of the King. More than a hope for the future. More, even, than forgiveness of sins.
When Jesus rose from the dead, sins present, past, and future were forgiven. The only thing that was needed was humans to reach out and claim that forgiveness. But is that salvation? I dare say that it is not exclusively salvation.
No, salvation is change. Salvation is a relationship. Salvation is a longing to love God, and a inner hatred toward sin. Salvation changed our heart, and opened the door for the Holy Spirit to come in and breathe into our spiritually dead bodies the breath of life.
When we were dead, the dirt of sin fell on us without resistance. The rotting of sin bound us. But now we are alive! The dirt should bother us. Sin should be so excruciatingly painful.
But...how often do we view sin as it is. If our BEST ACTS are disgusting rags...how much less tantalizing are our acts of sin?
I'm not sure if hating the end result of sin is the same as hating sin. Perhaps not even hating the consequences of sin in regards to the break in our relationship with God is hating sin. Hating sin is a detest. A genuine longing for it to be demolished.
I don't think we will get victory over sin until we hate sin. And we won't hate sin until we move past the future results of sin to the present truth of sin. Sin is dethroning God from your life. Sin is placing your will over His. Sin is loving yourself more than loving Him. Sin is spitting in God's face--He offers freedom just so we can run to that which we have been set free from?
Until we hate placing ourselves on the throne, sin will lurk in the distance, and with a snap of the fingers Satan has you in his clutches.
In order to hate placing ourselves in governance, we must love placing God on His rightful throne. That means we must love to obey His wishes. Beyond that, we must love God himself. No one will ever love someone telling them what to do until they love that ruler.
Loving God means keeping His commandments. Once we love God, we can love His rule in our lives. Once we love His rule, we can hate our foolish "power" of our lives. Once we hate placing ourselves on God's throne, we can hate sin.
In order to hate sin, we must love God. If we don't completely love God, then we won't completely hate sin--and if we don't completely hate sin our hearts will be spotted with sin stains, stains we eventually hate to remove, eventually love.
Love God, hate sin. Love God's rule, hate your rule over your life. Obey God, ignore sin. "Walk ye in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh."
