While my wife and I shared the gospel with Ryan and Meg — strangers we met at the restaurant’s bar — we were discussing the bad news which made the good news good: that, by nature, all men and women were spiritually dead in their sin and found guilty before a holy God. Ryan did not protest against the indictment against him; he only questioned how one can go on with a healthy self-image while acknowledging it.

“Well, that seems depressing to believe about yourself,” he said with a slight wince. “Are you happy having such a negative perception of yourself?”

The comment was not what I expected him to say. While my wife and I shared the gospel with Ryan and Meg — strangers we met at the restaurant’s bar — we were discussing the bad news which made the good news good: that, by nature, all men and women were spiritually dead in their sin and found guilty before a holy God. Ryan did not protest against the indictment against him; he only questioned how one can go on with a healthy self-image while acknowledging it.

To him, being “reborn” didn’t solve the problem. To him, Christianity meant signing up for a perpetual guilt-trip and a negative self-image. It was not a freeing and joyful existence, but one of looking down, avoiding mirrors, and mumbling apologies under one’s breath. It was a groveling life haunted with “should-have-done-betters”; a bemoaning existence devoid of self-worth as one self-deprecatingly crawls into glory.

And sadly, I don’t think he is far off in some cases. Some hang their heads and talk about themselves as if they are essentially wretched. They carry around their “chief of sinner” card like a driver’s license. Their experience of struggling with sin defines how they view their identity and how they hear what God says about them.

In an effort to articulate man’s plight before a holy God, in an attempt to campaign for humanity’s sinfulness in a culture that no longer believes in sin, and, endeavoring to remain humble before God and serious about our own remaining corruption, we have forgotten what God says about us as Christians. We have been, as Anthony Hoekema says, “writing our continuing sinfulness in capital letters, and our newness in Christ in small letters.”

Healthiest Self-Image on the Planet

Simply put, Christians should have a positive view of themselves — in Christ. As the secular world lies in the sun of ignorance and licks itself with self-help gurus cheaply affirming their self-worth, the born-again Christian should have the most concrete, positive, confident self-image on the planet. Not because he is sinless. Not because he wakes up every morning and reads his Bible. Not because he is more selfless than his fellow man. But because God has made him alive, forgiven him all of his trespasses, adopted him into his family, and dwells in him. If any man desires true self-worth, he should see all he can hope for in the shining faces of the church of God.

As Christians, we are not to scrape the gutters of depravity for our identity. “Totally depraved, wretched, naked, pitiable, blind, beggars, orphans, sinners,” no longer describes the church nor the Christian at their core. Now we are not spiritually proud because, as C.S. Lewis states, “The true Christian’s nostril is to be continually attentive to the inner cesspool.” But we must always remember that the smell of our sin does not out-perfume the aroma of Christ that is upon us (2 Corinthians 2:15). The Christian can look himself in the eye and not grimace.

Who You Are in Christ

If you are truly born again, your history and self-perception does not define you. What God says defines you. How God sees you is who you are. The eyes of faith look not only to Jesus, but also must look to ourselves and see what God does. Although Satan cannot snatch you from God’s hand (John 10:28), he can steal your identity, convincing you that you are still inherently wicked, orphaned, and merely tolerated by God.

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