I Am A Saint

“Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus:” Ephesians‬ ‭1:1‬ ‭ESV‬‬

‭“I am a saint”, I’m not so sure about that, my halo is a bit crooked, but…

  • Paul was writing to the people of Ephesus, people who were believers, who were faithfully following Jesus. But he didn’t call them Christians, he called them Saints. 
  • So what does it mean to be a “saint”? One definition says, “In it’s most basic sense, a saint is a “holy one”, someone who is set apart for God’s special purposes””. So then, we, as followers of Jesus, are to be “set apart”. We are to be different from the world around us. In Romans 12:2, Paul instructs us, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
  • ‭‭Peter also reminds us,  in 1 Peter 1:15-16, “but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.””
  • ‭‭And in Ephesians 4:22-24, Paul calls us, “to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.”
  • ‭‭So to be a saint then, is to be different, to be set apart. And as John says is 1 John 2:6, if we claim to be followers of Jesus, we must “walk as Jesus walked”. 
  • Nothing about this is easy, I have come to believe it is a process, a journey, to become more like Jesus, to be a reflection of Him to others, but one day at a time, one choice at a time, we are “saints”.

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