Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. – Romans 6:11
Halt! Who goes there? Identify yourself.
That’s the challenge issued by life.
And your only 2 options are:
- Sinner
- Saint
These are politically and culturally loaded terms. And depending on your background, they may carry a lot of emotional and psychological baggage that hinders you from engaging with them.
But the words “Sinner” and “Saint” have nothing to do with the Catholic Church or being made to feel bad by “fire and brimstone” preachers.
They are simply statements of fact about a person’s spiritual condition.
Sin (Gr: harmatano) simply means:
- To be without a share in
- To miss the mark
- To err, be mistaken
- To miss or wander from the path of uprightness and honour
- To do or go wrong
- To wander from the law of God
- To violate God’s law
And “Sinner” just means somebody with a sin nature.
Nature is something you inherit. And Nature isn’t defined by what you do.
And the spiritual condition of Sin was inherited by all humans from Adam.
But the great news is that Jesus came to earth as a human in order to give you a new nature (2 Corinthians 5:21)
And when you put your faith in what Jesus did for you on the Cross, you receive a new nature.
You are no longer a Sinner. You are a Saint.
You are no longer bound by Sin. Instead, you are dead to Sin and alive to God.
You are no longer restricted by the laws and consequences of Sin (death, decay, sickness, poverty, depression etc)
You are instead released into the freedom of life as a Saint…life in fellowship with God.
That’s what you received when you put your faith in Jesus.
The question that you need to answer, once and for all, is:
Will you identify with who you are in Christ…or with who you were before you got born again?
You are NOT an SSBG (Sinner Saved By Grace).
You were a Sinner. And now you are a Saint…because you accepted Jesus as the Lord of your life.
Know who you are in Christ.
And then, moment by moment, live life from within that identity.