Saints With Addison BevereSýnishorn

Becoming Saints 

Christian. That’s what we call the two billion-plus people who claim to follow Jesus in some capacity.

For many reasons, I think the term “Christian” has lost its potency and meaning, so I suggest exploring a different identifier, one that invigorated the early church and fills the pages of our New Testament. From Acts to Revelation, you’ll find the word “Christian” only three times—twice in Acts and once in 1 Peter—but the word “Saint” can be found over sixty times.

When Paul—who primarily used the word—called his audience “Saints,” he was inviting them to practice and participate in the mystery of God’s kingdom. He was calling them to play by a different set of rules—a way of living that astounds our world and points to the Life we were created to know. 

This invitation to be a Saint was a vital part of the early church’s language, purpose, and identity. Sadly, today, the word “Saint” has been clothed with sarcasm or reduced to post-life elitism.

But physical death does not mark one’s entrance into sainthood, nor are Saints people who escape from the real world, living detached from the struggles of life. To become a Saint is to become profoundly human. It’s to plunge into God’s original design for humanity. It’s to feel what God feels for this world, empowering us to align our actions with His heart. It’s to embrace God’s nature and to step into the fullness of our new creation reality. 

The Son of God became a man to make men and women sons and daughters of God, and Saints have caught a glimpse of who they are in Christ. With a hope and a confidence in God’s promise to make all things new, Saints purposefully work with God’s Spirit to merge the worlds of what is and what will be.

Regardless of where you’ve been or where you find yourself today, God has called you to be a Saint—and truth be told, there’s no greater calling. 

Saints are destined to deconstruct the barriers between the secular and the sacred. They are engineers, stay-at-home moms, politicians, designers, students, pastors, scientists—they are normal people who journey through life with an extraordinary vision that infuses existence with purpose. 

This is the life and identity you were meant to know. Anything else is bland existence.