Sanctified and called to be holy

The church in Corinth, as we will see throughout this book, had its share of problems, many of them serious.

That said, it’s really amazing the things Paul said about the church. He called them “sanctified in Christ” and called to be holy.

Considering their problems, it’s hard to see the former, and while they were called to be holy, set apart for Christ, they certainly weren’t living that way.

But it’s a reminder to me that God does not merely see where we are now, but where we will be. And we are to look on other brothers and sisters in Christ the same way.

We are not to see them simply where they are at now in their Christian walk. But we are to see them as people Christ has already set apart for himself. They are now his.

And so as Paul did with the Corinthians, we are to remind our brothers and sisters that they are called to live that way. To no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and rose again.

Just as importantly, we need to see ourselves the same way.

It’s easy to look at ourselves as Christians and get discouraged. We see our sins and how we struggle, and we wonder how God could accept us.

But let us remember that we have already been accepted. God has already set ourselves apart for himself. So now, let’s live that way.

But remember too that we don’t need to do this on our own strength. For Paul tells us,

He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful. (1 Corinthians 1:8-9)

We may not always be faithful. But God is. And he will never stop working in us until the day we stand before Christ, holy and blameless in his sight.

How about you? How do you see your brothers and sisters in Christ? How do you see yourself?