I am a sinner.
- To some, this is an incorrect statement; it doesn’t exist.
- To others, this is an empty statement, accepted and meaningless.
- To many, this is a shameful admission, a low view of self.
And to the few, this is a statement of life.
This statement is the foundation of our faith in Jesus Christ.
For without understanding this one simple truth, we do not need a Lord of Saviour.
You see, those who do not believe being a sinner is real are blinded by their ways so that they would not need to see the sin in their life.
Those who use it as an empty statement only understand half of the gospel. They receive salvation and do not accept the joy that comes with sanctification. There is such a thing as a miserable Christian who’s only hope is in heaven after this life, not in the life God gave them.
And then there are the ones that only see the shame in sin. While they may receive salvation and desire sanctification, they’re so ashamed of their sinful state that they don’t believe God can fix them or use them.
They simply exist.
The ones that get it, the few that walk the narrow path, understand the nuances, the paradoxes, and the light of Christ. They walk in mercy and grace of God, while receiving the conviction of the Holy Spirit to walk in the path of the law.
There is nothing wrong with the self-realization that we might be in any of the first three groups. The problem is our desire to stay there, because it’s comfortable, because it’s what we know.
I am a sinner. And now I get to choose what to do with that truth.
I think it is vitality important to define sin in a statement like this you have made. Not just a simple definition that says that sin is disobedience against God’s word, but the root of sin. Why does sin exist in our life? What is it that propels sin? Is sin a symptom of something greater? If so, maybe we should be addressing that thing instead of the symptom. For me, what drives our compulsively to sin is the feeling of toxic shame. But toxic shame is byproduct of the human ego sitting on the throne of our life rather than the Spirit of Christ. When the ego is our king it creates a minion called the false self. This counterfeit self, the hypocrit or play actor, is the one that does the sinning. The false self is the sinner, not the true self that God created. So the real goal is not to label myself a sinner, but to recognize who in me is doing the sinning. One I am convinced of this truth, I can go to work on crucifying the ego, or removing the ego from the throne. This is sanctification I believe. Anything else is sin management or behaviour modification. AKA renovating our house built on sand. Let’s not try and save our house built on sand. It’s not worth saving or renovating. Let’s let it wash down the river and build a new house on solid ground, our true self hidden with Christ inside of God. AMEN AND AMEN.