Keep it simple, SAINTS!
Every believer is a saint! Did you ever think of it this way?
Saintliness… It’s not a matter of “attaining” some lofty spiritual place but a matter of living by faith “out from” having already been made a new creation in the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus.
We live here below what we are already above, having been made that through Christ alone. Seated in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
Huh?
Consider. And also recall Ephesians 2:4-10. “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you have been saved – and raised us up with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not the result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
Being Christian is not a space of “linear thinking” and struggle to “ascend,” so to speak. It is instead the realization, one might say, of being “quantum entangled” with Jesus and living out from that realization / vision / revelation. “Where there is no vision, the people cast off restraint; but blessed is he who keeps the law. A servant cannot be corrected by words alone; though he understands, he will not respond.” Proverbs 29:18,19. The vision is needed. Greatly needed!
Once you see it, you cannot unsee it.
Per Colossians 3:1-4, it is a matter of “if then you have been raised with Christ, keep seeking the things that are above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind in things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ WHO IS YOUR LIFE appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.” Then he describes what that life in heaven looks like as it is fleshed out on earth in the “practical” aspects of this change of address.
Then read what the attached link of passages identify as “saints” per God’s word, considering why they are already called that, addressed that by the Apostles writing to them – although they are still on earth in a physical body. They are learning to become what they already are, having been made that in Christ.
https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/All-Believers-Are-Saints
I took this further than I wanted and will probably be given the snake eye and some flack for this from a number of directions.
Well. So be it. It amounts to surrender to what is, not struggle in the flesh with what one desires to become. Great news! “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.” Romans 8:1.
Much more could be elaborated, but for now – keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking for the Holy Spirit. I’ll let you look up Luke 11:5-13 and ponder how it fits with this discussion.
Keep it simple, SAINTS!
Peace IN Christ be with you.
Blaiseintotheblue out.
Into And Out Of The Blue 