Despite all you have done, through faith in Jesus, you remain God’s child. This is all that matters.

The teen tentatively raised his hand to my question. He was the only one who did.

I was talking to the student body and faculty of a Christian high school. The young man was responding to my question, “Who sees themselves more as a saint than a sinner?”

I have asked this to many groups of Christians throughout the United States. Virtually every time, the vast majority identified themselves more as sinners. We are talking thousands of Christians from diverse backgrounds, crossing all ages.

I get why people think that. Each day we sin. And the more we are in God’s Word, the more sins we see. Its light illuminates all the nooks and crannies of our lives and hearts. It reveals disgusting sins: selfish ambitions, obnoxious greed, lustful thoughts, just to name a few. We see so much sin in ourselves that we naturally conclude we are sinners.

But is that what we should consider our identity?

Focusing on what Scripture says

How people identify themselves is a hot topic, but there is no agreement on how people should establish their identity. Is it confirmed by what they think of themselves? Is it determined by what others say about them? How do people’s circumstances contribute to their identity?

Most agree that where people look is critical to how they identify themselves. It’s natural, therefore, for Christians to identify themselves as sinners when they look at themselves.

But that is not where we should look! Rather than looking at ourselves to establish our identity, we should look at Scripture.

When we do that, we see some surprising things:

• A profusion of positive terms describing believers. In well over 90 percent of the instances, the Bible uses positive, even exalted, terms to describe them.
• A careful differentiating between believers and unbelievers.
• A sharp distrinction betwen people’s identity without Christ with their identity in Christ.

Identifying status vs. state

When taken together, these make a compelling case that God has given believers a fantastic new identity. But many Christians don’t see this, or they see it faintly or fuzzily. Why is that?

Because they look at their sinful state rather than at their God-given status.

This needs explanation. Status, according to the dictionary, has two basic meanings. It can refer to a person’s position in relation to others. For example, a man can have the status of father to his children, husband to his wife, and boss to his employees. Or it can refer to how the law categorizes a person. It classifies one person as guilty and a criminal and another as not guilty and law-abiding. One person is a US citizen, another a Canadian citizen.

In contrast, state refers to the condition a person is in. One person is sick, while another is healthy. One is poor, while another is rich.

From a biblical perspective, our status, our relationship with God, is what identifies us. But believers commonly identify themselves by their state. Because believers are still in the state of sinning, they conclude that their identity is sinner.

But that is not how the Bible identifies us. What we do—our state—does not play into how God regards us. The Bible emphasizes that how God views us—our status—is determined by Jesus’ state lived for us. Tim Keller put it well: “It is an identity that is not achieved but received” (Preaching, p. 137). Jesus lived perfectly as our substitute. He died an atoning death for us. So now God eagerly and gleefully bestows, through faith, a wonderful, exalted, multifaceted status on believers. He covers us with a virtual tidal wave of honor and prestige.

Many Christians don’t see this clearly. The groups I have talked to demonstrate that. It’s like the old illustration of a farmer finding an eagle egg. He placed it with a hen to hatch. It grew up with the chickens. It clucked like a chicken. It scratched the ground like a chicken. One day it saw an eagle soaring high above. It remarked that it wished it could be an eagle. Then it bent over and continued scratching the ground. It eventually died thinking it was a chicken. Even though it was an eagle, it never soared like an eagle.

In Christ, you are much more than an eagle! But do you realize that? Do you live like that?

At this point, I need to sound a warning. After wrestling for years to apply this God-given status consistently to myself, after seeing others also struggling to grasp its various implications, more than likely you too will struggle with certain aspects. It’s difficult to keep your identity grounded in what God says. It involves an entirely different mindset, a new paradigm. It’s so easy to slip back into identifying yourself by what you do.

Too often we feel like the prodigal son as he traveled home. He had grievously sinned against his father. He wasted the inheritance in debauchery. He no longer saw himself as his father’s son. All he saw were the terrible things he had done and the miserable state he was living in. All he hoped for was that his father might take him in as a servant.

In his father’s eyes, however, despite all he had done, he remained his son. And that is all that mattered.

Despite all you have done, through faith in Jesus, you remain God’s child. This is all that matters! This is what you need to cling to. You need to pry your eyes away from yourself and stay focused on what God says.

Living your God-given identity

Identifying yourself with your God-given status makes all the difference in the world. Max Lucado writes about a shy, insecure girl he went to college with. But one day she changed. She beamed and spoke with confidence. “What made the difference? Simple. She was chosen. A young man she loved looked her squarely in the eye and said, ‘Come and spend forever with me’ ” (When Christ Comes, p. 143).

God has declared his love for us. He has chosen us. We are his. Living in this light makes all the difference in the world.

The Bible emphasizes that how God views us—our status—is determined by Jesus’ state lived for us.

Focusing on our God-given identity not only gives us great comfort and joy, but it is also one of the best ways we praise God. When we identify ourselves mainly as sinners, we focus on self. As weird as it might sound, we are being self-centered. But when we see ourselves as saints and God’s children, we focus on what God has given us through Christ. We are being Christ-centered. And isn’t that what we are to be?

The Bible contains a virtual art gallery of pictures depicting our God-given status. View them like an art connoisseur would. Don’t be like a casual tourist, giving each picture a cursory glance. Rather pause to marvel at each one, seeing their details, thinking through their various implications. I guarantee you that it will be a thrilling, wonderful experience.

Christian, who are you? May you always see yourself as God sees you: “a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession” (1 Peter 2:9).

Learn more about your status in Christ in Mark Cares’ book, Christian, Who Are You?: Your Amazing God-given Identity.

Author: Mark Cares
Volume 112, Number 06
Issue: June 2025