No Longer Orphans: What It Means to Be a Saint
“Oh, fear the Lord, you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack!”—Psalm 34:9
For the first seven years of her life, our daughter, Anah, lived as an orphan. Abandoned shortly after her birth, she knew no other life. She was used to being shuffled between the foster home and orphanage. Things were complicated by the fact that she had Down Syndrome.
When she entered our family, she didn’t know who we were, even though we had been sending photos, gifts, and other things to introduce ourselves. The first month was very difficult. She would cry at nights, even though we offered her a permanent new home.
As the days passed, that stopped, so we thought she had adjusted to us. She did to a certain extent, but we discovered that in many other ways, she still lived like an orphan.
In fact, every time something new happened—a new school, a new person, a new situation—she would revert back to her old ways. Why not? They worked.
Because of her disability, we don’t know if that will ever change. We cannot reason with her, explain that she need not do that any longer, that her future is secure.
Yet how often do we do the same? We too have been adopted into God’s family but we still live like orphans. Our Father has promised to take care of us permanently but we still seek to fend for ourselves.
Instead of walking confidently in our new identity, we cling to what worked in the past. Sure, they weren’t the best, but they were familiar. It makes us feel we’re in control.
Sometimes I wonder if Anah wishes we left her in the orphanage. There, things were done for her. She was not challenged or disciplined.
Likewise, we’re not sure if this new life as a believer is for us. We tend to focus on all the hard things like surrender or picking up our cross. It’s difficult to make changes or endure our Father’s discipline.
I’ll be the first to admit my understanding, like Anah’s, is limited by my own disability—the challenges of living in a fleshly body that is still affected by sin. There is a lot I don’t realize I have, and what I do know is often forgotten. Yet understanding this truth of what it means to be a saint is critical if we are to live as God intended.
As always, the first place to go is God’s Word. Michael Emlet calls Scripture our “identity-forming communique from the Father to his children.”
In the Bible, God addresses His people. When we learn to understand ourselves in light of His Story, it transforms our understanding of who He is—and therefore who we are.
If we want to build a strong foundation for our identity, there is no other source. So let’s see what it says about being a saint and how we live like one…and not like an orphan.
Six Truths About What It Means to Be a Saint
Being a saint is a relational term, not a title.
Often, we think of saints as dead people who did good deeds. They were then conferred a title of “Saint” for their contributions to His kingdom.
But that is not how the Bible understands the term. Rather, it is a relational term that describes a believer’s new relationship with God.
If you have entered by faith through Christ and restored our relationship with our Creator, then you are a saint!
No good works required. In fact, no good works can ever earn this status. It is entirely a gift of grace.
Jesus is the picture of the perfect saint.
As I write this, we are anticipating Easter Sunday. It is so easy for us to focus primarily on his death and resurrection—and that is important!
But we often forget the fact that He also lived for 33 years on earth, three in full-time ministry with people who misunderstood, frustrated, and ultimately, killed Him.
If anyone knows the challenges of living as a human being in a broken world, it’s our Savior. Sure, He was also God the Son, but that fact did not minimize or lessen the hardships He faced in a human body: hunger, pain, opposition, weariness.
Yet there was no one as joyful, loving, good, kind, righteous, holy, peaceful—more fully human—than He was. While He was God in the flesh, the perfect representation of the invisible Father (Heb. 1:3), He was also the last Adam, humanity as God intended. And those who are saints will one day bear His image perfectly, just as the first Adam stamped his image on us (1 Cor. 15:44-49).
Becoming a saint requires that you bring your brokenness.
Not your resume of qualifications. Not your tokens of respect.
Interestingly, the way to become a saint is to first recognize that you are not.
As human beings we are uniquely created, unlike all the other creatures, to reflect the image of God.
But sin entered into the picture. Though it warps that image, it still exists. Like a blot on a Xerox copy that is reproduced, this distorted image is reproduced from Adam and Eve into every single human being (except Christ).
Sin replaces the true God with an alternate god: Self. We see evidence of this god of self everywhere we look in our culture. We talk of self-worth, self-esteem, self-care.
We love ourselves. Just what Satan wanted—because when we do, we take our eyes off God. We no longer reflect the image.
From that tainted image erupt all manner of evil—from outright wickedness to ungodly piety. We are enslaved to a new master who also wants to create his lesser image in us, though we are created for another.
For this, we have earned the wages of sin—death, a permanent separation from God. This separation cuts us off from relationship with God and his life-giving power. We no longer possess the ability to turn to Him or even exercise faith.
So to become a saint, we need to face the hard facts of who we are. It’s not a matter of doing enough good works to counteract the bad.
It is about dealing with the fact that we were born with this nature. A saint looks at this and knows there is no good in him or her. Without this confession, we cannot become saints.
Putting our faith in the perfect Saint is what makes us saints.
It is very simple really.
Because Christ is the perfect Saint, He alone can rescue us from sin and restore us to God.
He satisfies God’s perfect Law on our behalf through His life. He sheds His blood to pay the debt we owe. He removes our filthy rags and replaces them with robes of righteousness (2 Cor. 5:21).
When we acknowledge that He alone is God the Son, when we admit our inability to save ourselves, and when we accept the gift of grace He offers us, our status is instantaneously changed.
Not by our works. By His.
That means there is nothing we can do to make us more secure. There is no failure that can change our status. Because it is not dependent on us at all, we can be fully confident.
Saints are adopted children of God through faith in Christ.
Through Christ, our once dead spirits are now brought to life (Eph. 2:4-5). Now, as living beings, we can now fellowship with our Father once again. Sin no longer separates us.
Not only that, as His adopted children, we have the full rights and privileges of Christ, co-heirs with Him. When we put our trust in Christ, we are wrapped up in union with Him. Where He goes, I go. What He has, I have.
It gets even better. Not only am I in Him, He is in me (Col. 1:29). As a seal of that inheritance, we have been given the Holy Spirit to live within us (Eph. 1:13, 14).
So instead of trying to earn sainthood by good works, we are granted a new relationship through faith in Christ’s work on the cross.
Good works are made possible by the power of Christ in me, fueled by the Holy Spirit. They do not earn my status as a saint. Rather, it enables it.
We live as saints now as our primary identity.
Though we have been changed at the very core level of our being, we are still not fully what we are meant to be (1 John 3:2). Elisabeth Elliot writes, “We are meant to be saints not only when we get to heaven, but right here in this world.”
This is not something we need to wait for. We certainly should not delay. Rather, as soon as He has changed us, our status, our identity, and our destiny has changed as well. We are no longer orphans, so let us not live like we are!
We have been rescued from the slavery of sin and restored to our Father. Let us not live according to our old ways but seek to grow into the image of God as seen in Christ.
We are now co-heirs with Christ, so we do not need to live in fear, anxiety, and worry for our future. It is secure. Let us not live like orphans surviving by our own wits.
We are now part of a family, with brothers and sisters who likewise have acknowledged their need for a Savior. Let us not posture or pride ourselves with one another.
Because we still live in a world that tempts us and a flesh that still wars against us, we will experience suffering and still be plagued by sin. Expect it.
But as Michael Emlet points out, “We are saints who suffer. We are saints who sin. But we are saints nonetheless at our core.” This identity of saint is more true of who we are than any other.
Conclusion
If you have faced your need and placed your faith in Christ alone to change you—you have taken the first step. You are now a saint!
Saints, by definition, do not live for self any longer. That ship has sailed. We are now under a new master, new ownership.
We may forget this, and Satan would want that, so be prepared to fight! Next time, we’ll look at how our new identity contrasts with the world’s messages and how we can think rightly in a world that is enamored of self.
