Transform Your Life, See Yourself as God Sees You

When you believe Jesus is your Savior

God no longer sees you as a “SINNER” but as righteous.

Article by:

George A. Beckett, Sr MA

July 2026

If you are “saved”, how can you still be drowning in sin leading to death? You are no longer drowning, so accept the rescue of freedom from sin that Jesus provided

            When you accept Jesus Christ into your life, an incredible, supernatural shift happens in how God looks at you. Even though you might still make mistakes, struggle with bad habits, or feel the internal pull to do wrong, God no longer labels or defines you as a "sinner." Instead, the moment you put your faith in Jesus, you experience what the Bible calls a spiritual rebirth; as 2 Corinthians 5:17 beautifully puts it, "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come". You are not just a patched-up version of your old self. You are given a completely brand-new identity and a clean slate in the eyes of your heavenly Father.

            This transition can be hard to wrap your mind around because our world trains us to think that we must earn our acceptance. This performance-based approach is exactly how life worked under the Old Testament Law, where your standing with God depended entirely on your ability to perfectly keep every rule. This burden was impossible to carry, but Jesus changed everything by sacrificing Himself at the cross in order to be under His grace. The law no longer applies as Romans 6:14 reassures us, "For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace." Under the law, a single mistake marked you as a failure, but under grace, your security is anchored in God's unearned favor.

            Because you are under grace, God's view of you is based entirely on what Jesus did, not on what you do. This concept is captured in 2 Corinthians 5:21, which explains that "For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." In a spiritual sense, Jesus took all your faults, mistakes, and guilt upon Himself at the cross, and in exchange, He dressed you in His own perfect goodness. Because of this divine trade, when God looks at you now, He does not see your shortcomings. He sees the flawless righteousness of His Son covering you, meaning "there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus," as promised in Romans 8:1.

            It is vital to understand that while you still carry a residual sin nature—a lingering propensity to mess up—this old nature is actively being weakened and eradicated through a lifelong process called sanctification. The Bible reminds us in Romans 6:6 that "our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing." While sanctification reshapes your daily behavior over time, your actual status in the eyes of God is already perfectly settled. Yes, as a human being living in an imperfect world, you still will sin, but God does not see you as a "sinner" because Jesus completely took care of that on your behalf. God does not wait for you to finish changing before He accepts you; He accepts you completely right now. Your permanent, unbreakable identity is: "I am righteous, I am holy, I am redeemed." You have a dynamic relationship with Jesus that is entirely detached from your personal performance.

            When Jesus hung on the cross, He cried out, "It is finished" (John 19:30). He meant exactly that—the work required to save you, cleanse you, and reconcile you to God was 100% completed. Because the work is entirely done, there is absolutely nothing left for you to achieve, earn, or prove. Your only job now is to shift from striving to resting. As Hebrews 4:10 points out, "For whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his." You are called to simply rest in the Lord and receive His free gifts of grace, mercy, and unconditional love.

            Understanding this truth is the key to growing in your faith without being paralyzed by guilt. As an inexperienced Christian, you will quickly realize that having a new heart does not instantly erase your human weakness; you will still face temptation. The crucial difference now is that when you slip up, it does not break your relationship with God, because you are no longer evaluated by a performance-based law. God has permanently canceled your debt, ensuring that "as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us" (Psalm 103:12). He does not look at you as a criminal waiting to be punished, but as a beloved, fully forgiven child. By believing that God already sees you as clean, holy, and righteous under His grace, you will find the relief and love you need to leave your mistakes behind and keep moving forward in your Christian journey.

            So, stop seeing and believing only half of the truth when people say, "I am a sinner saved by grace." While "sinner saved by grace" is a popular phrase from old Christian hymns rather than a direct, single quote from scripture, the Bible fully unlocks the second half of that exact concept in Ephesians 2:8: "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God". Believe that last part of the truth completely—you are saved by grace because of what Jesus has done! The identity of "sinner" belongs to your past, but "saved by grace" is your present and eternal reality. You are completely free, so let go of the weight of your old labels, accept His finished work, and begin living that way today.