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I would like to get Your Grace's opinion on the following subject.

"Never say that you are a sinner," Yogananda went on to tell us. "You are a child of God! Gold, though covered over with mud for centuries, remains gold. Even so, the pure gold of the soul, though covered for eons of time with the mud of delusion, remains forever pure 'gold'." "To call yourself a sinner is to identify yourself with your sins, instead of trying to overcome them. To call yourself a sinner is the greatest sin before God!"(EXCERPTED FROM the InnerSelf.com article: Love is the Key by J. Donald Walters).

In the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector, our Lord Jesus Christ taught us that the tax collector was justified because he acknowledged that he was a sinner; not that he had sinned "'God, be merciful to me a sinner!' I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted" (Lk 18:13,14).

Our teacher St. Paul says "For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Rom 3:22-23). There is no one without sin even if his life on earth is just one day.

St. Paul describes himself as a chief sinner "This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief" (1 Tim 1:15). Note that he is speaking in the present tense he did not say 'of whom I was chief'.

Do not be misled by those who want to diminish the graveness of sin in our lives thinking of themselves as righteous. Trying to beautify one's own image is falling into pride. In all humbleness let us humiliate ourselves before God our Creator; knowing that we are nothing but dust and it is only by His grace that we able to stand before Him and ask for His forgiveness. Instead of thinking of ourselves as gold covered with mud let us look at our sins and say with David the prophet "And cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is always before me" (Ps 51:2,3).

One of the wonderful prayers that one can pray constantly at all times is 'The Jesus Prayer' the words of which are 'Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner'. You will find it in a book called The Way of a Pilgrim; the story of a man who wanted to learn to pray constantly following the Holy Bible's teaching (1 Thess 5:17).