Saint, not Sinner

Have you ever thought you were the absolute worst person in the world? You had a rough day and yelled at everyone around you, or cut off some guy on the road because he was making you angry. You harbored thoughts of jealousy or resentment towards a friend, or blatantly caused them hurt because you were upset.
    I have often thought that I must be the worst mom there is. All too often, I am too harsh with my kids over silly little things and am completely impatient. Everyday I can count numerous offenses against my kids and by the end of the day, I think God can't possibly look on me with joy or pleasure.
    I'm sure you've heard the phrase 'sinner saved by grace' before. I know I've heard it a lot. And it's true, is it not? We were spiritually dead, slaves to sin, before we accepted God's free gift. Because of amazing grace we are saved from our sins. And so, I've always just thought of myself as a sinner struggling along to do the right things and please God. I'm reminded from time to time that the Holy Spirit is there to help us past that sin, but mostly I just think of how many things I've done wrong in a day and have to ask forgiveness for and the fact that I'll probably do that many wrong tomorrow.
   Have you ever thought about yourself differently? Last night I started a new book The Seduction of Our Children by Neil T. Anderson and Steve Russo. I only made it a few pages before something struck me. "But we have confused ourselves and our children by calling ourselves "sinners saved by grace" when the Bible calls us saints who occasionally sin. The difference is profound. If your child (or you) still thinks he's a sinner, he will easily be convinced to do what sinners do: sin. Rather, every born-again child of God is a saint who has been transferred out of the domain of darkness into the kingdom of Christ (Colossians 1:13). The more your child (or you) believes that he is a saint because of his faith in Christ's death and resurrection, the more he will live like a saint." (pg 19, items in parenthesis mine).  Wow!
    I had to stop and think that one over awhile. I think it'll take me a long time to fully process it. You've all heard of these psychologists toting the notion of "positive thought", right? Well I think when that positive thought is focused on God and His will for our lives it really does work.
    This morning, just to drive this point home, God revealed this in His Word to me. Romans 6:18 says, "You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness" and Romans 6:22 says, "But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life." How does this relate? It means that we used to be slaves to sin and are now slaves to a most holy and righteous God that views us as holy and righteous. He doesn't look at us and see all we've done wrong, He looks at us and sees us through Jesus who is holy and righteous. I almost imagine Jesus as a filter that God looks through to see us. That filter removes all the bad and God sees us as saints.
    The next time you start berating yourself for all the wrong things you've done, remember to ask forgiveness and then not dwell on it any longer. God isn't. He's forgiven you and doesn't look at you as a sinner but as a saint. What an amazing God we have!
    I realize as well that the more I desire to love like He loves, the more He is showing me how much He loves me. If He can look on me and not see my sin, should I not do the same for those around me, especially my kids?