I'm a Saint Who Sins

Playful thought experiment: How would you behave if you knew, with absolute certainty, that one year from today you are going to inherit a trillion dollars tax-free?

Think about it. How would you feel about your credit card debt? What kind of Christmas presents would you buy for your friends and family?

Serious question: How would you behave if you knew, in your bones, that you really are the apple of the Almighty God’s eye (Ps. 17:8)? That your future is guaranteed to be good (Ps. 16:5-6)? That you will, without fail, be resurrected into an eternal life where pain, grief, and death no longer exist (Rev. 21:4)?

How would that change how you feel about your current illness? Your persistent sins? That scary new job transition? How would it change how you treat your mean neighbor? Your rebellious kid?

But I don’t act like this is true.

When I ask myself these questions, I feel a bit of excitement, but that excitement quickly turns to disappointment.

I think: If I really believed God’s promises, I’d be a saint!

I’d release my financial anxiety (Matt. 6:31–33). I’d freely forgive every wrong ever done to me (Col. 3:13). I’d stop worrying about my appearance, performance, and reputation (2 Cor. 10:17-18). I’d love people with zero strings attached and think the absolute best of everyone around me (1 Cor. 13).

But I struggle to do any of that. It’s really disappointing. I hold grudges, I worry about my reputation, my bank account, and just about everything else.

I don’t feel like a saint.

The great reversal

But it is true that I’m the apple of God’s eye! It is true that I’m going to receive an eternal life with God, free of all grief and scarcity. It is true that all my sin and shame have been forgiven and forgotten. I’m a new creation right now!

I don’t always act like that’s true. But Jesus does. He always does.

Jesus isn’t anxious about my finances. Jesus forgives every wrong I’ve ever done. Jesus thinks that my physical appearance, performance, and reputation are stupid measures of my worth. Jesus loves me without strings or expectations, and has made me a co-heir with him.

When Jesus looks at me, he sees me for what I really am. A beloved, forgiven, co-heir with him.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come!” (2 Cor. 5:17 CSB).

So I am a saint!

Jesus says so. (If you disagree, take it up with him.)

At the same time, I still sin. A reality Jesus kindly reminds me of as well sometimes.

In God’s wisdom, he allows these two realities to coexist for a short time. Right now, I live in a kind of spiritual quantum superposition state: simultaneously a sinner and a saint.

So I am a saint, who sins.

Thanks be to God! Because “there is now no condemnation for [me] in Christ Jesus, because the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set [me] free from the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:1-2).

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Provisions for the Road

Your spot is already reserved and paid for!

September 12
Time: 10 AM Pacific | 11 AM Mountain | 12 PM Central | 1 PM Eastern
Cost: FREE (Thanks to generous donors!)

Stories are full of sights, sounds, smells, and real human drama. The Gospel authors wanted you to see Jesus’ face, to hear his voice. Reading the Gospels with your imagination is simply reading biblical stories the way they were meant to be read.

The heart of this practice is to let the Holy Spirit make Jesus present to you, to let him catch your eye and ask: "And what about you?"

God can teach us with facts. But he meets us in our imagination.

In this workshop you’ll:

Learn how imagination is a God-given tool for encountering God in Scripture.
Walk through a simple 5-step method of reading with your imagination.
Practice the method and ask your questions
Leave with a complete worksheet and list of passages to start with.

Food for Thought

Things the team found interesting this week, no endorsement implied.

How Much is a Trillion Dollars Visualized

By Joelle Gross, et al. at NBC News

Imagine counting dollars out loud at a rate of one dollar per second:

Counting to $1 million would take you 11.5 days.
Counting to $1 billion would take you 31.7 years.
Counting to $1 trillion would take you 31,688 years

Learn to Follow Before You Lead His People

By Alan Hirsch on Substack

“I have found that one of the greatest errors that many church leaders carry about leadership is that it operates as something of a separate discipline from that of discipleship… Christology determines everything downstream of it, and this is worth sitting with this in its full weight: your view of Christ is always shaping your view of leadership whether you are fully aware of it or not.”

How Philosophical Counseling Can Help

By Monica Vilhauer Ph.D. at Psychology Today

Perhaps I (Brandon) have found a new vocation!? 🤣No, but really. I have a degree in philosophy and there is often an overlap between spiritual direction and "philosophical counseling.” What do you think? Should I start offering this as a service?

Soul care for Christians at life's crossroads.