Sinner or Saint?
In our Bible study this spring we debated whether Christians should refer to themselves as “sinners” or “saints.”
I’ve always seen myself as a sinner, wholly unworthy of the love, mercy and grace God lavishes on me as His child. I know I’m saved, justified by grace through faith in Jesus’ work on the cross to pay my debt and His resurrection which conquered death, but down in my heart I also know that there is “no good thing in me” except what is Him. Calling myself a saint feels blunt, as it is not of my own works that I’m redeemed; further, it may tell non-believers, “I’m holy and you’re not,” whereas saying I’m a sinner saved by His grace and mercy might offer one hope that no sin can separate us from the love of God.
I further argued that if I tell non-believers, “I’m a child of God,” and then they see me sin, my hypocrisy can prevent them from coming to Jesus. The key, I was told, is to “acknowledge that as a child of the Living God, I still sin, but am redeemed; sin doesn’t define me.”
I understood this, but didn’t really buy it until reading the tiny bit on Jabez in the One Year Bible today. It wasn’t new to me; in fact, verse 10 of 1 Chr 4:9-10 caused me a three-year aversion to the NKJV, which says “that I might not cause pain,” instead of other translations which in effect say, “that I might not feel pain” (emphasis mine). I’ve since gotten over it, thank you.
Today these two verses helped me understand how God changes our identity. Jabez is honorable, but his name means “pain” or “distress.” His mom bore him in pain and named him Pain, but Jabez calls out to God, asking Him to bless him, enlarge his territory, have His hand with him and keep him from harm, “so that I will be free from pain.” (4:10b BSB). Jabez basically asks God to keep him from the definition of his name. He’s saying “God, Bless me, stay with me, guide me and keep me from suffering what my name implies.
I used to think Jabez was sort of a wimp or a prosperity junkie, but when I think of what his name means, it makes sense, especially when I think of labeling myself a worthless sinner.
Jabez was born in pain. Psalm 51 agrees that I was born a sinner. But when I called out to God in faith in Jesus, He changed my eternal destination and the definition of who I am and Who’s I am.
Jabez takes up only two verses in the Bible, yet today God enlarged his territory in my heart and gave me a different understanding of who I am in Christ. Even with a changed heart, I still sin and suffer earthly consequences for it, but because I’m no longer destined to suffer eternally for sin, it doesn’t define me. I understand what the ladies at Bible study were trying to tell me, thanks to this little section of Scripture and the Holy Spirit.
God takes no pleasure in my maudlin displays of unworthiness. I may not feel worthy, but He sees me as worthy, and He sees you as worthy. I won’t hide that I’m a sinner, but I also won’t neglect to speak of His mercy in saving me. “But I will enter Your house by the abundance of Your loving devotion” (PS 5:7a, BSB, also part of the One Year Bible reading today).