Are you ready for life after sin?

What would our lives be like without the awareness of sin? More specifically, what was God’s intention when He sent His son to die for our sins?

As I reflected on these questions, I thought I knew the answer in words, but I couldn’t see the results in most people—including myself. The basic words sounded something like this: We were created to look like God, we fell from that place because of sin and then we took on a new image—that is, a “self” image that looked more like Satan. Jesus then became what we were (sin) to give us back what we were created to be (the image of God).

Seems simple right? Still, I struggled with this knowledge because I couldn’t see it with my natural eyes. I believed in Jesus, and yet I couldn’t see the freedom from sin in His own people. And so I began to wonder what “life after sin” could look like if the results were more easily visible in each one of us.

I discovered that personal testimonies—that is, what our lives look like here on earth—are the measurement for most people. The average person judges Jesus by the words and behaviors of His people. I could see the Gospel being defined by the influences this world puts on us rather than the influence we should put in this world through the Gospel.

I began to understand that I should take a closer look at what we were created to be from the beginning. If Jesus really did die to give us back our original image, maybe it was just what I was failing to see.

I decided that no matter what I could see with my natural eyes, I should always go back to this basic truth: “We were created in God’s image!” And every single person in the world is predestined before time and is worth the blood of Jesus.

This understanding suddenly helped me see something more in His people. I began to see their value and how each life is so worth living. Even if I didn’t know someone personally, I could see them in root value! Their original created value was love and after all who am I to talk God out of what He knows?

For so long, I was walking around blind. I was doing just what I saw others doing. I was letting what I could see determine what the Gospel meant to me. I could see the pain, mistakes and regrets in myself and in others. And though it may sound crazy, I realized I was the problem all along! I couldn’t see what I was created to be. I would hold each mistake and sin against myself, and I was consumed with who this world influenced me to be. So how could I ever see Jesus in others when I could not see Him in me?

So many people want to think this understanding somehow gives us permission to sin. But that’s clearly a trick from the enemy. The opposite is actually true. When we experience the love of God flowing through us to others and live from the inside out—showing God’s love outwardly—and know that each of us was made in love to be love, that love penetrates the “self” that was never meant for us. This is the “self” that the enemy is able to influence. He cannot touch Holy Spirit within us or our original created image.

Ultimately, we don’t have to wake up every day and “try” to be Christian. We can wake up each day knowing the love of God and our true identity in Him. This life-giving love will naturally flow to others beyond anything we can give on our own.

In Christ we cannot hold others accountable for what they fail to see. Never think people need to change to be touched by God. Give them an encounter with Jesus that changes their belief system.

While we were sinners, God sent His son. God’s forgiveness turned my heart to Him and in that I became more like Him. The enemy will continue to hinder our belief and identity if we don’t know why Jesus died. I don’t want to be a Christian for me or what He can do for me. Our intention for being a Christian should be how Jesus transforms us back into His image. Our identity has to be crystal clear as we walk in love. Together we can represent Jesus as His church to all people groups. Jesus is the only one who can keep us pure without motive. The increase in others will always come from God not us. As we reach out to His people, we must see them in His original image, free from sin. In 2 Corinthians 5:17 we know this: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”

As we live our lives to bear His image, we will know and understand new things. If the Gospel does not lead us to the people God loves, be aware that it’s not the Gospel of Jesus. His life in us represents Life After Sin to make the Testimony of Jesus known.

In Love,
Bobbie Suzette