That moment of salvation was beautiful. Whether at 5 years old or when gray hairs have started setting in, every salvation story is incredible because it features a holy God, a perfect Savior, and a wretched sinner who could do nothing to deserve the gift they received. Yet after that incredible moment of leaning completely on our savior for salvation from sin, we often try standing on our own feet again. Yet although we’re forever freed from the punishment of our sin, Christ isn’t done saving us yet.
False contentment
Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin… So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. (John 8:35, 36)
When Christ became our savior, He released us from the debt we had racked up. Every law of God we broke, and will break, was charged against Him at the cross. And just as it was impossible for us to earn our salvation, we likewise can do nothing to lose it. Our salvation is purely up to Jesus Christ.
However, one of the greatest dangers to the Christian life is false contentment. So often we receive a radical transformation, going from being dead in sin to alive in Christ. We receive the Holy Spirit. We enter into a new spiritual family. Finally, we are able to love and serve God as we never could when we lived as His enemies.
Yet so often, our day of salvation is one of the few times we realize our desperate need for Christ. We see His death as our means of escaping Hell, completely forgetting that we have several more decades to live as people who are set free from sin. We become content to say “I’m not going to Hell, and that’s good enough for me.” So we continue on, pursuing our happiness and wondering why things that should be so sweet and satisfying turn to ash in our mouths and leave us craving more.
Daily salvation
For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. (Romans 7:18-19)
If we’re willing to be honest about our lives, we can all relate to what Paul is saying. How often do we find ourselves saying “Why did I do it again? I’m so tired of that sin!”? Our savior awakened in us something we never knew before – a desire to do what pleases God. Yet that desire didn’t replace our love of sin, and that’s why we so often find those two opposite desires at war within us.
The more we push beyond the false contentment of salvation being “good enough,” the more we see just how deeply sin has been rooted in our worldview. Everything we understand about happiness, satisfaction, friendship, purpose in life, adversity, and even how we handle boredom has been tainted by sin. The more closely we walk with Christ, the more we see how imperfect our hearts truly are.
That’s why Christ’s salvation isn’t just from the punishment of sin, but the daily desire to return to it. Through His death and resurrection, the blinders of sin have been removed and we see the reality of the world. Yet just because Christ allows us to see the truth of sin doesn’t mean He we have the power to overcome it. Despite no longer being enemies of God, we are still infants standing before a hurricane.
The more we see the gravity of sin, the more we see our daily need for Jesus Christ. We may be free from our rightful punishment for sin, but with that freedom comes a continued need to pursue righteousness. We can’t do it on our own, but as Christians, we absolutely want to do it.
Free to serve God
But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. (Romans 6:17-18)
So just as we realized our inability to save ourselves from sin on the day of our salvation, every day brings with it the understanding that we can’t fight sin without Jesus Christ.
Before Christ, we had no choice but to sin. We were chained to sin, being carried without any choice. We were like train cars being pulled along by a steam engine. And we loved it.
Now, every moment is met with a decision. We can return to the false promises of sin, living like those who are still enemies of God. We can try to find peace and contentment in this broken world, receiving nothing but pain and misery just like everyone else. That’s the life waiting for us if we only want Christ to save us from the punishment of sin.
However, the Holy Spirit living within us gives us another option. He enables us to choose to love and serve God. Without the requirement to sin, Christ’s death allows God’s children to become more and more like their savior. We can choose those things that seem insane to the world because we want to please God, not ourselves.
And just like salvation from the eternal punishment of sin, being saved from our daily desire to live like an enemy of God is both incredibly simple and hopelessly impossible. The simplicity comes from us not having to do anything to earn it. Christ offers us that freedom completely free.
However, the reason we so often struggle to kill sin every day is because of what we think it will cost us. Just as many will hear the good news of Christ and never respond, we too will refuse to give up our garbage in exchange for something far more valuable. We still find ourselves loving sin too much, standing too proudly as we rely on our own strength and goodness to overcome sin. Yet if we weren’t strong enough to handle sin before Christ, how can we possibly think we are strong enough to deal with it after knowing just how ruthless and ever-present it is?
If we’re a child of God, our eternity is guaranteed. Yet as His children, we continue to develop a desire to hate what He hates and love what He loves. It’s purely through Christ that we are able to want those things, and it’s purely through Him that we’re able to chase after them. All we need to do is hold on to the freedom He’s given us, kneeling before Him in humility and asking Him to do in us what we can never do on our own.
When we truly desire to love God and hate sin, God will give us exactly what we want. It may not be as immediate as we’d like, but it will happen in His perfect timing. Christ saves us from all sin, all we need to do is trust Him to do so.
Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. (Psalm 37:4)
