How do you see yourself? How do others see you?
Are you "The angry mother" or "The person who is always late" or "The shy one" or "The life of the party"? Sometimes we live up to labels that people give us as if they were self-fulfilling prophecies. We quote the number or name from a personality test and we say that we are that quality.
In my family I was the sensitive one, the defensive one, the whiner.
At school I was "the dumb blonde" who could never get anyone's jokes.
Do I need to still wear that identity just because it was something that I once did? I love the children's story 'You are special,' by Max Lucado because the Wemmicks try to put stars on Lucia and they drop right off of her because the only label she wants to wear is "created by Eli."
It should be the same for us. If you are a Christian, you only wear the label "She/he is in Christ."
2 Corinthians 5:17 says, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; Behold, the new has come!"
We are not bound by the sins of our past, nor are we bound by the sins in the present. We have been set free and the chains that are now on us are there of our own making. We can easily get up out of our self-imposed prison and walk in freedom. How? Because of what Christ Jesus did on the cross. He bore every sin and got called all those names and labels that we deserve. If you still see the sinner, ask yourself, "Was Jesus' sacrifice not enough? Do you still need to take some of the payment on top of what He did?"
If God is willing to see our debts as paid, then we should too. Clean slate. Clean rap sheet. New you.
When guilt and shame creep at your door and you feel like giving up and you are beginning to think "I can never overcome this sin"; just remind yourself "I am a liar, angry, lazy, gossiping, lustful, proud, arrogant, cheater, people pleaser...'in Christ.'"
