Remember Who You Are

 By: Rebekah Hargraves

Photo Courtesy Of: Alicia Quan

"...To all who are in Rome, loved by God, called as saints..."   ~Romans 1:7

It is sometimes terribly common, particularly in certain circles of Christendom, for believers to describe themselves as being nothing but depraved sinners.


While I understand where they are coming from and while this description certainly applied to us prior to our coming to Christ, to describe ourselves in this manner now, as followers of Jesus, is completely antithetical to the gospel.


Paul’s favorite word to describe believers in Christ is not "sinner". It's actually “saint”. That is what we as Christ-followers are! We are saints. We are not deprived sinners. All has been redeemed, justified, and changed. 


Paul writes to the Corinthians telling them that *all things* have become new, emphasizing that we are new creatures in Christ and that our old selves have passed away (see 2 Corinthians 5:17).


Do we still sin? Yes.


Do we still battle the old sin nature? Yes.


But our identity has once and forevermore been completely and totally changed now that we are in Christ.


When God the Father looks at us, He sees nothing but the righteousness of Christ the Son. Our sins have been removed as far as the east is from the west (see Psalm 103:12).


Yes, we still sin. But that sin has no bearing on our identity whatsoever.


You are not a depraved sinner, my sister-in-Christ. You have been changed. You have been made new. You are a saint.