“Called to be saints together”
To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and our: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (1Corinthian 1:2-3 ESV))
When does ‘self-care’ become ‘self-indulgence’?
When does Christian devotion and service become insular and cut-off from other believers?
Paul reminds the believers in Corinth that, because they are in Christ Jesus, God has set them apart as his holy people – sanctified. Because they are God’s people, they should reflect his holiness.
As God’s sanctified people – set apart for his service- can we rejoice that we are members of one holy people throughout the world, in every place, who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours?
Does being members of such a vast body of believers give us confidence that we are not alone in our struggles and although we may not know it or feel it someone is praying for us. Isn’t that amazing! In the economy of God, and the ministrations of the Holy Spirit, God lays it on the heart of one or more of his saints somewhere – near or far- to pray for you in your time of need.
In the terminology of the ‘Drive Thru’, can we ‘pay it forward’ and be attentive to similar promptings by the Holy Spirit and thus offer our prayers and supplications for our fellow saints? It may be that only God knows the why and the wherefore but simply to be called upon by God to help is the role of the saint – the ‘sanctified’ for the purposes of God.
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 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. (Romans 12:1-2 ESV)
And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, 23 if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister. (Colossians 1:21-23 ESV)
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. (1Peter 2:9-10 ESV)
