I am a saint. Romans 1:7 to all who are beloved of God in Rome, called as saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 1:2 To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours: Philippians 1:1 Paul and Timothy, bond-servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, including the overseers and deacons: Aside from all the translation issues with the use of “church” and “bond-servants,” these verses are a good reminder that I am a saint. But what is a saint? According to Dictionary.com, a saint is a person of great holiness, virtue, or benevolence. Benevolence is expressing kindness or charity towards others. I would imagine this is what Sha’ul (a.k.a. Paul) had in mind when he penned these letters, especially since canonization of saints didn’t occur until MUCH later in history. So what does it mean to be a saint? It means that I adhere to the morals and principals that God has given us in His word (and since Sha’ul was still writing the “New” Testament, that means God’s Word was the Torah); I am kind to others and charitable with my time and resources; I am set apart and devoted to serving God. That’s a pretty tall order, but Sha’ul says that I am a saint by calling because I call on the name of Yeshua. So I am these things, innately, even if I don’t always remember to express them.
1 Corinthians 6:12 You may say, “I am allowed to do anything.” But I reply, “Not everything is good for you.” And even though “I am allowed to do anything,” I must not become a slave to anything. This sounds like something that my little ones would say, “I can do anything I want!” And we say things like that, too, especially because we have the forgiveness of Christ. I think that I’ve used that excuse as a rationalization once or twice. But Paul makes it clear that, even if I’m allowed to do anything, not everything is good for me to be doing and indulging every whim can make me a slave to that want or desire. Some things, like pornography and drugs, are obviously like this. A little of “anything I want” often leads to an inability to say “no” later. But, it’s the more subtle things that I have to watch out for – buying things that I want, but don’t need, or eating when I’m bored instead of hungry. Those are things that catch me up sometimes. And, yes, there is grace when I make mistakes, but it would be nice to not need that grace quite as often! I’m definitely a work in progress!
Romans 7:19 When I want to do good, I don’t. And when I try not to do wrong, I do it anyway. This sounds like Paul was having one of those days where no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn’t do it right. I can’t imagine how difficult it must have been to try to explain these concepts for the first time. Although, since it’s God-inspired it might not have been as hard as I think. Regardless of how it was written, this is one of those passages that people read, and then reread, and then scratch their head and reread, to try and get the point. The Blue Letter Bible actually puts each verse on its own line, which is annoying sometimes, but in this case is really helpful because I can read each verse of this sometimes confusing passage individually, helping me make more sense of it. In some ways it sounds like Paul’s saying, “It’s not my fault!” But he clearly acknowledges his sinful nature’s role in poor decision making. Heaven knows I feel this way sometimes, when everything I do seems to be the wrong thing… or when I know what the right thing to do is, but don’t do it. For example, where I work it’s very easy to speak negatively about things, and even though I know that’s not the right thing to do, I often get sucked into that negativity because of my frustration with things. So, I know the right thing to do, but don’t do it. Sigh. Thankfully, God is merciful and oh, so patient! So, every time I mess up (again) He forgives me, and I can try again.
Romans 14 talks about not letting the small differences of opinion about the right and wrong way to do things separate us as believers. Paul gives many examples – what day of the week is the holiest day, wether or not to eat meat, and so forth. The crazy thing is that we still get stuck here today. We have all these denominations that split the christ following church because one group believes it should worship on Saturday and another says they’re wrong, they should worship on Sunday. Others say drinking wine is a horrible sin, while others don’t see the problem as long as it’s in moderation. Some churches believe any music with a drum set is from Satan, and others use a rock bank to lead worship. We divide ourselves with petty differences, and I believe this weakens us. Paul urges the church to put aside these small squabbles and love each other so that the church doesn’t become and obstacle to others coming to know Jesus. Sadly, in many ways, we, the church of Jesus, His followers, are that obstacle because we don’t love those who think differently. We look down our noses at the unmarried couple with their children. We avoid even looking at that guy with all the tattoos and piercings. We raise our eyebrows at kid who dresses all in black and sits quietly in the back row. And we yell angry, unkind words at people leaving bars at night telling them that God doesn’t love them and they’re going to hell. We wonder why the world hates Christians. But, in our zeal to do what we think is right, we alienate those hurting people around us because it’s what WE think is right – not what GOD thinks is right. And sometimes what we think is right is the very thing that keeps us from making the impact that God would like us to have. All in all, LOVE. Jesus didn’t care if that person was pierced, tattooed, dressed all in black, screamer-band listening, motorcycle driving, smoking, or drinking. He LOVED them anyway. By letting our opinions about what is right and wrong split us as believers, we give the enemy small victories, weakening our effectiveness, and shoving people who could have believed back into the darkness with our judgment. And I’m guilty of this sometimes, too. But I’d like to think that I’m becoming more open about remembering that the only thing that matters is JESUS. Do you love Jesus? Then that’s all that I should worry about. God will sort out the rest. LOVE one another – no matter what seemingly strange or weird things seem to separate you. Jesus loves you (and them), no matter what. If we are to be Christ-like, we must love no matter what, too.