Live Like It!

We say we love many things! A few that come to mind are sports teams, fried pickles, pets, comfy clothes … the list is literally endless and unique as the individual.  The older-me has come to love the absence of things – alarm clocks, dishes in the sink, busy weekends, noise … that list goes on and on, too!

 

What does it really mean to be faithful?  We understand cars that faithfully start or children that faithfully obey, but what about deliberate devotion with single purpose?  The Apostle Paul often began his letters to New Testament churches, addressing Believers as “saints.”  Now, most of us would recoil at being called a “saint” but, truth is, that’s exactly what God’s Spirit-born children are – holy ones, set apart ones … saints.  Reading Paul’s letters, however, we conclude many of the early Christians lived like anything but saints, much like some Christians today.  Clearly, that love-affair with the world has been around since … well, the Garden.  I seriously doubt Paul was being facetious when he called them saints; no, it was a gentle yet profound reminder to Believers of who they are.  Just as a butterfly behaves in butterfly-fashion, so should saints be true to what they are – sinful persons, washed and made clean by the Blood of Christ. To live denying the change in our spiritual nature should be as foreign as it gets!  “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” (1 Corinthians 5:17).   This is real faithfulness – understanding and living as children of The King, and in the sweetness and reflection of His Royalty.  If you are a Spirit-born child of God, you are a saint!  You are chosen and set apart as one of His holy people, and here’s the short-and-sweet of it … live like it!