Of all the good characteristics of Christ that we should emulate, His hatred for sin is certainly one of them.  While His sinless life itself tells us that He abhorred sin, His reaction to it is even a greater demonstration of this.  On one occasion, when Jesus went up to Jerusalem, because the Passover was approaching, He saw money changers in the temple and could not contain His righteous indignation.

John 2:14-16 (ESV)
¹⁴  In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. ¹⁵  And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. ¹⁶  And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.”

Jesus was taking action here against a long-established practice among the Jews that had become a lucrative business among them with no conscience toward things sacred.  It would have been easy for Jesus to just ignore the activity since it had been going on for such a long time.  However, it was never in His character to ignore sin.  He hated it too much.

If we are living Christ-centered lives, we hate sin as well.  The Psalmist once wrote, “Through your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way” (Psalm 119:104).  This must also be our sentiment.  Paul taught that the attitude of the new creation in Christ involves, not only loving what is right and good, but also, hating sin. 

Romans 12:9 (ESV)
⁹  Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.

If we do not have this mentality, we do not have the mind of Christ, and without that, how can we live a Christ-centered life?

It is easy to grow accustomed to sin when the world is full of it.  We can continue to do good while, at the same time, not having a disdain for sin.  The problem is, not abhorring sin is a step away from fellowshipping it, which can very quickly lead to practicing it.  What we must do is always remember how evil sin is.  Paul recognized such when he wrote the following:

Romans 7:13 (NKJV)
¹³  Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not! But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful.

While Paul was teaching that one cannot be saved by pure law apart from the mercy and grace of God, the law is not the villain when it comes to people being lost.  Sin is the villain.  The law simply exposes sin for what it is—exceedingly sinful.

Sin is the only thing that can separate us from God and cause us to spend eternity in a devil’s hell.  We should hate it and stand against it every chance we get.  We should never tolerate it, but instead, expose it, and do our best to expel it whenever it comes into our presence.  This is what Jesus taught us to do, and it is a part of living a Christ-centered life.                  

As you wind down for the night, think about these things.