Am I really a sinner?

Am I Really a Sinner?

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

—Romans 3:23

Are you really a sinner? You might think, I don’t feel like I’m a sinner. I’m a pretty good guy. I treat people pretty well. I love my wife and kids. I go to church and try to follow God’s Word.

But that’s not what I asked. I didn’t ask if you are good. I asked if you were a sinner. I know a lot of good people who are sinners, including myself. So maybe we don’t know what sin really is. What is the standard of sin anyway? If I compare myself to others, I’m just as good if not better than most. If I look at the world’s standards, I’m doing pretty well. But this isn’t about the world’s standards. It’s about God’s standards, and we all fall short of the glory of God. If I do fall short of the glory of God, then what are his standards? And if I can’t reach his standards, then how am I supposed to deal with my sin? How am I supposed to keep sin out of my life? Is there a way to protect myself from sin? These are all great questions, and this book is going to answer those questions. We are going to look at sin from God’s perspective. After we know what sin is, then we can identify sin in our lives. Once we identify sin, we need to get rid of it. That is why God sent Jesus into the world, to cleanse us of all our sins (1 John 1:7). After we have cleansed ourselves of sin, how do we keep from sinning again? After you are done with this book, you will have practical ways to deal with all those questions. Let’s get going and cleanse ourselves from sin, with the help of Jesus.

Let’s lay some groundwork before we dig into what sin is. Dealing with sin is about looking inward at yourself and not pointing at others and judging their sin. As Jesus says in Luke 6:41, “Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?” It’s time to stop looking around and judging everyone else and start looking inward to change yourself. Your personal and spiritual development begins when you start to look inward and make changes. This is probably one of the most challenging things you will ever do. It is a call to know yourself at a deeper level than you have before, to strip away pride and ego and evaluate your strengths and weaknesses, to be honest about who you are and how you behave, and to let others speak to you honestly about the sin in your life and then work to eliminate that sin. True growth will start to happen when you do this. As James points out in James 1:25 (English Standard Version [ESV]), “But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.” We need to look at sin for what it is and how it negatively affects our lives and the lives around us. Then we need to act on what we have learned and start making changes. When we can do this, we will be blessed. Psalm 139:23–24 (ESV) says, “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me and lead me in the way everlasting!” As we look inside and allow God to point out areas that we need to work on, we can then change our sinful ways and follow the way of the Lord.

Identifying sin is not meant to condemn you; it is a way to know what needs to be worked on. I understand that when you look inward and see your sin, you can feel incredible guilt, shame, and condemnation. I have been there. I know exactly what you are feeling, and it’s scary. But the only way forward is to look inward. The only way to eliminate sin is to face it head-on. To look at it for what it is and deal with it. This is why Jesus came to earth—to help us eliminate our sins. He didn’t come to condemn us; he came to set us free (Romans 8:1–2). Satan wants to keep you in the shame and guilt of your sin, and Jesus came to set you free and give you a new life. This is the good news of Jesus: we can be free of our sins, and Jesus is the answer.

Why is eliminating sin so important to God anyway? He wants to restore his relationship with you, and the way to do that is to get rid of sin and return to following him. He also wants to give you a better life, and sin stands in the way of that. Sin is destructive in nature and will only destroy what God is trying to do for you. He also wants to restore your relationship with your neighbor. Sin breaks relationships, and God heals relationships. There is a saying about sin: sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you are willing to pay. This is why God wants to eliminate sin in your life. Now let’s define exactly what sin is so that we can start to deal with the sin in our lives.