You Are NOT Defined by Your Sin
This is an age-old deception of Satan to make us lose hope.
Every son and daughter of Adam is a sinner.
This is a very famous saying of the Prophet Muhammad, upon whom be peace. Sin is part of the human condition. It is inevitable.
Our job as human beings is to avoid major sins, what I like to call SINS, to the best of our ability. Our job as human beings to avoid major mistakes, what I like to call MISTAKES, to the best of our ability. It is hard, and God wants us to try our best.
If we do fall into a SIN or MISTAKE, Satan then follows by trying to convince us that we are defined by our sin. “You are a such wretched sinner,” he whispers to us. “There is no way you come back from this,” he says deceptively. “How can you even look at God’s face after what you’ve done?” he says to our hearts. He wants to kick us after we are down.
We have to resist and say, “STOP!”
We are NOT defined by our sins. NOT EVER EVER EVER. Satan wants us to internalize our sin and make us think it is our identity. He wants to turn us into the proper noun of SINNER. We should never give him that satisfaction. We are a servant of God who committed a sin. We are a servant of God who made a mistake.
And even if we commit a SIN or make a MISTAKE, nothing we have ever done is bigger than God’s Soothing Mercy. We cannot think that for even a millisecond. The second part of the Prophet’s saying above, upon whom be peace, gives us eternal hope:
And the best of sinners are those who repent to God.
As long as we keep coming back to God, He will keep coming back to us with Soothing Mercy and Forgiveness. That fact is what we must internalize, not our sins.
And if we avoid the SINS and MISTAKES, God promised us Mercy for the sins and mistakes:
Those who shun grave sins and indecencies, save what is slight, truly your Lord is of vast forgiveness…(52:32)
This is an age-old trick of Satan: making us think that we are defined by our sin. Don’t fall for it. Never despair of the Soothing Mercy of God. Never despair.