How many sins does one have to commit before he is considered a sinner?
Zero.
We are born into sin as sinners. And that's why we have to be reborn into righteousness as saints. That's also why Christians say "born again" in reference to salvation.
We are who we are. Our actions are merely byproducts of our identity. We do what we do because we are who we are.
The world sees it the opposite way: we are who we are because we do what we do. People are judged by their actions. And fairly so there's not much available for us to judge other than a person's actions. But that doesn't reflect truth.
And furthermore, because of this mindset, people often focus on what they can do for God. They always focus on the doing part and not enough on the "being" part (which is believing and knowing who you are in Christ).
My identity is determined by God. If I'm reborn into Christianity but still sinning, it's only because I don't realize who I really am.
People will judge and label a person based on his actions. And they will hold him to it. Not many are open to change or growth.
But people didn't make you, God did. He knows who you are. He's the best one from whom to find out. So break out of the mold others have made for you. It never fit right anyway.
I feel kind of bad... I don't really have anything to add to your blog posts. That is, your messages are so spot-on, there's not really any room left for me to say much of anything. (Around home, I almost always have something to say.) But I also want my comments here to be either encouraging or otherwise constructive, for the edification of the Kingdom.
ReplyDeleteOf course, there were a few rants at the beginning, but those were isolated incidents. I didn't tell you this, but right about the time you started your blog, I was going through a particularly discouraging time in my life. My apologies for using so much of your space for my own venting. But you handled it well, which is a very big deal for me personally. (Not many people can handle my venting/ranting.)
I also must say, I really enjoyed your closing paragraph on this one.
Until next time.
CK