holy ones

If the Apostle Paul were alive today and wrote to us here at Woodland Hills, how would he likely begin his letter?

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to all the holy ones at Woodland Hills… grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

There are several features that mark Paul’s salutations, but notice this one especially:  he always addresses the followers of Christ as “holy ones.”  Always.  Even when he wrote to churches that had major problems going on–like gross immorality or serious doctrinal error–he still called them holy ones.*

So we can be sure Paul would address us Christ-followers at Woodland Hills as “holy ones.”  How does that strike you?

I’ll be honest:  that’s not the term I’d use to describe me.  And with a few exceptions, it’s not really the term that first comes to mind when I thumb through our church directory.

The fact is, though, we are holy ones.  But not because of exceptional piety or virtue or great acts of benevolence.  “Holy ones” is a positional term–it refers to our standing before God.  We’re made holy by the saving work of Jesus Christ, quite apart from what we’ve done or haven’t done.  God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21).  That’s why Paul would call us “holy ones.”

So what do we make of all this?

First of all, we can be encouraged.  The life we’ve chosen can be pretty brutal.  And when we look in the mirror we might see mostly scrapes and bruises.  But God sees each of us as a holy one, His holy one–bought with a price, redeemed, washed, cleansed, clothed in white…   So let’s choose His perspective and His valuation of us, not ours.

Secondly, let’s live like the holy ones we are.  “Like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior” (1 Peter 1:15).  Let’s make our practice match our position.  Practical righteousness is moment-by-moment obedience to God.

Blessings, holy ones.