Sinner or Saint?

"We are not sinners because we sin. We sin because we are sinners." ~ Dan Cannon

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 This puts things in a little different perspective, doesn't it? And it makes sense. I mean, I'm not a writer because I write. I write because I am a writer. My pastor isn't a preacher because he preaches, but he preaches because he is a preacher. Our actions stem from who we are - not the other way around. A killer isn't a killer because he or she kills, rather he kills because murder is in his heart. What was it Jesus said? If you have unrighteous anger in your heart toward someone, you have already committed murder. If a man lusts after a woman in his heart, he has committed adultery. We act out of who we are. We don't become these things. We are these things, therefore we do them.

Frightening, isn't it? Thank God for redemption! Thanks to Jesus, we can go from being a sinner to being a saint. 

"...in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace 

in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved 

through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 

not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, 

which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." 

(Ephesian 2:7b-10 ESV) 

So it stands to reason that people are not Christians because they do good works. Rather, Christians do good works because they are Christians. And people are Christians because God regenerates them - transforming the heart of a sinner into the heart of a saint.

Isn't God good?