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I am a drinker, I am a smoker, I am gay, I am an addict, I am a gossip, I am a liar, I am a glutton, I am a fornicator/adulterer, I AM A SINNER!

One or more of these are true of all of us at one time or another as we walk through this life…whether we are of faith or not.

Most religions condemn these kinds of behaviors and most churches do not easily embrace people who “are” any of these things. That is why most self-acknowledging “sinners” do not attend church or pursue religion. They do not feel they can measure up, and in most cases they have no desire to.

In my return to the Christian faith these past five years, I have once again come face to face with the guilt manipulation and legalism that most religions focus on. It has always concerned me that some Christian’s faith is focused on what we DON’T do. To be a “good Christian” you shouldn’t cuss, drink, smoke, flirt, chew, or go out with people that do. Some things “never change”, and this judgmentalism is one of those things that is still far too prevalent in circles of believers who deem themselves “lovers” of people.

There are many stories and illustrations of how Jesus dealt with these people in relationship to the religious institutionalists of his times. None of the disciples he called to follow him came from strong religious positions in Judaism. They were not righteous leaders of their synagogues of those times. As far as we can tell, they all came out of imperfect secular professions and situations when they were called to follow Jesus. Jesus met the adulteress Samaritan woman at the well where He called her to faith. He chose HER! He was a friend of prostitutes and tax collectors…people of ill repute.

The true power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is that “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us”. It was obvious we didn’t have the power to be righteous or live up to His commands. We are not able to “clean ourselves up” or save ourselves by the power of OUR will. We must submit to HIS power and will in order to find redemption and forgiveness. It is not something we can earn or “decide”. We don’t find God…He finds us.

I see so many Christian believers today walking around in conflict and shame OR with no sense of sin and shame at all. The evil one has many of us convinced that we are hopeless sinners…unable to break away from our addictions to gluttony, alcohol, drugs (statin or otherwise), sex, or even our favorite sports. Most all of us identify with one curse of the flesh or another, and then the evil one convinces us to label one another with these epitaphs. “Oh, he is an alcoholic”. “Oh, she is fat or obese”. “Oh, they are a gamblaholic”. It seems when we meet each other we are always looking for the imperfections which are always there. Sometime we criticize them and sometimes we identify with them. We often are not able to have grace or forgiveness for the imperfections in each other.

Thank God He does not look at us in that way. He has chosen to extend His grace to ANYONE who would believe in Him…believe in HIS sacrifice for our sins, believe in HIS resurrection so that we too might one day resurrect, believe in HIS forgiveness where He no longer sees our sin but only our cleanliness from the blood of Christ that covers us. We are not saved by works or perfection. We will never be good enough. Thank God for His eternal grace and forgiveness where He sees us through Christ and His blood shed on the cross…not our own self righteousness.

I hope your faith recognizes this today and that you will claim these scriptures for your own…

“So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!  All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:16-21)”

God has imputed the righteousness of Christ in each of us who claim and know His promise. Our identity is in Christ, not in our sins that so easily beset us. Do not let the evil one accuse you again of that for which you have already been forgiven. You have been forgiven for the past, the present, AND the future. Fear not and claim your freedom to live IN Christ.