Who are you? Every day you and I are being confronted with and challenged as to who we are in the world we live in. Culture screams at our youth (and adults) trying to sway their allegiances in order to be identified with a group, team or cultural genre. One of the primary tactics culture and marketing uses is fear. If it can instill the fear in you that you are not going to be accepted by others and ultimately will be rejected, then it’s got you.

What if we truly began to believe in who God says we are? If you have come to a point of belief in your life by placing your faith and trust in Jesus Christ, you are not a sinner; you’re a saint. You are a new creation, something completely different than what you once were (2 Corinthians 5:17). Amazing! Part of our struggle comes when we look at ourselves in the mirror and see the same person. However, what God has done in you is create a new creature. It’s like going from being a jellyfish one moment to being an elephant the next—two entirely different creatures with two entirely different purposes.

So what’s the problem in our lives? We know more about being a sinner than being a saint; therefore, we default to being the creature we know more about. However, God has called—commanded—us to grow in who we are by knowing Him and learning what it is to live life in our new identity.

The proof is in the struggle. If we’re not sinners, but saints, how do we explain sin in our lives? We are saints who struggle with sin. Paul articulates this in Romans 7:21-25 and 2 Corinthians 12:7. The struggle is an indication of a change that has happened in you. We often can feel as if we’re lousy and crummy because we’re struggling so much, yet it should be an affirmation of the change that has happened. Before the change, there was no struggle. Elephants don’t act like jellyfish; if they tried, they would feel awkward and out of place as would an alien in a world where it doesn’t belong (1 Peter 2:11). Imagine an elephant floating (and struggling) along in the ocean with its legs dangling underneath. As you pass by in your boat, you think, “That does not belong.”

God, because He is holy, has made us holy (Leviticus 11:44-45; 1 Peter 1:15). Holy: set apart in the world. Understanding the nature of holiness can help us navigate what the world throws at us. Fear? God has said there’s no need to fear.

Why is this article important? When we as Christians forget who we are, we forget whose we are. The idea that we are less than who God made us cripples our walk with Christ. When we begin to understand who we are in Christ, it is freeing and empowering, exactly how Christ has called His followers to live. Yet, we regularly hear comments such as, “I’m just a sinner.” If we buy into that, we start believing we are less than who Christ has made us.