We’ve been describing the healthy appropriation of “sinner” language and identity as a journey, and any of a number of pitfalls can crop up along the way. In fact, it’s best to expect that they will so you won’t be taken by surprise when it happens. These are some of the toxic tendencies to beware of when taking on a sinner identity.
- Reactivating old abuse / victim language about yourself.
- Exacerbating a genuine clinical depression.
- Descending into shame-spirals over things you can’t control.
- Obsessing over past sins that have already been forgiven.
- Thinking that you are your sin, your shame, your guilt.
- Becoming maudlin or self-pitying.
- Trying to “out-unworthy” other people.
- Allowing it to prevent you from living a fully realized life.
Be patient with yourself. Don’t forget to pray. As for the healing tendencies of the penitential mindset,
St. Paul identified “the fruits of the Spirit,” as “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Gal 5.22). Here’s What you might discover in yourself as symptoms or consequences of understanding yourself properly as a sinner:
- Living in truth.
- A right stance before God and your fellow humans.
- Freedom from enslavement to self-justification.
- Freedom from care about what others think of you.
- Freedom from taking offense.
- Freedom from judging others.
- Love and mercy for others.
- Love for your true, innermost self.
- Taking responsibility for wrongdoing.
- Addressing your attachments, compulsions, and passions.
- Experiencing forgiveness and love.
- Knowing the sweetness of unearned love.
- Inner peace.
- An appreciation of beauty and goodness in the world.
- Greater knowledge of Christ, who saves the world overcomes evil, and forgives sin.
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