Donald Whitney wrote:The closer you get to Christ, the more you will hate sin; for nothing is more unlike Christ than sin. Because Jesus hates sin, the more like Him you grow the more you will grow to hate sin. And the more you hate sin, the more you will grieve whenever you have embraced that which killed your Savior. …
But the fact that there is a struggle with sin, and a sense of grief because of sin, is good. Unbelievers have no such struggles or griefs. They may disappoint themselves for not living up to their own standards or to the standard of someone they respect. But they do not agonize over being unholy before God – a God who is holy and who calls them to holiness (see 1 Peter 1:15). As A.W. Pink explained, “It is not the absence of sin but the grieving over it which distinguishes the child of God from empty professors [of faith].”
Are you aware of sins in your life that you weren’t cognizant of years ago, even though you were committing those sins back then as well? As discouraging as the fresh exposure is, and as grievous as it may be to have ever-deeper layers of sin laid bare, there’s something positive here. Increased sensitivity to your sin is a mark of growth. You’ve made spiritual progress beyond where you were years ago because back then you didn’t even realize that those were sins. The closer you come to the light of Christ, the more sins His holy light will expose in you. In the words of nineteenth century Bible scholar Thomas D. Bernard, “Our sense of sin is in proportion to our nearness to God.”
