Sinner or Saint?

From “The Bondage Breaker, Youth Edition” by Neil Anderson and Dave Park.

“Have you ever heard a Christian say, “I’m just a sinner saved by grace?” Have you referred to yourself that way? If you see yourself as a sinner, you probably will sin. What would you expect a sinner to do? There will be little in your life to distinguish you from a non-Christian, and you will be filled with feelings of defeat.
Satan will seize that opportunity, pour on the guilt, and convince you that you are doomed to a roller-coaster spiritual life. As a defeated Christian, you will confess your sin and try to do better, but inwardly you will admit that you are just a sinner saved by grace, hanging on until Christ returns for you.
Is that who you really are? No way! The Bible doesn’t refer to believers as sinners, not even sinners saved by grace. Believers are called saints – holy ones- who sometimes sin. We become saints at the moment of salvation- that’s called justification. We live and grow as saints in our daily experience – that’s called sanctification – as we continue to affirm who we really are in Christ. Seeing yourself as a saint instead of a sinner will have a powerful effect on your daily ability to have victory over sin and satan.”

We are sinners. But we are told that we are to consider ourselves dead to sin (Romans 6:11). The power that sin held over us is broken. It is still present in our lives and all around us, but it no longer holds authority over us. It’s not positive thinking that will free us, although we do need to see ourselves how God sees us. It’s that the power of sin has been broken by what Christ did for us.
How easy it is to think we are victims of the enemy’s scheming. Living like a victim is sometimes easier than getting back up. What’s the point if we are going to be knocked back down again? God has us. We are His beloved and we are not weak prey for satan to come scoop up whenever he wants. As children of the King we have authority! Our identity is in Him as His saints, not lowly helpless sinners.
That we would remember who we are here on earth and know that we can experience every bit of Jesus’ love here and now.