2To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are in Colosse: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.3We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you,4since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all the saints;
Paul refers to those who would receive this letter, and in other letters, too, as "saints". This is a term that has a rather lofty connotation, perhaps implying a goal that can only be reached by some. But, in the Biblical sense, I believe that being a "saint" is a distinction, a name, given to people who have accepted Christ as their Savior - a statement of identity, rather than activity, even though the Bible teaches that our action should line up with our inward condition.
Paul prays later in the chapter...10 that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;11strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy;12giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.
You are new creation in Christ, you are redeemed, and because of your right relationship with God made possible through Christ, you wear His name. And, He has called you to be a saint, someone set apart, useful for His glory!
In Romans chapter 1, Paul is writing to those who have believed in Christ, who are children of God, and He makes a distinctive reference to them:
5Through Him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for His name,6among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ;7To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.8First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world.
We've had the list of most religious cities from Gallup and Bible-minded cities from Barna. As Christianity Today relates:
According to Barna, which based its rankings on the "highest combined levels of regular Bible reading and belief in the Bible's accuracy," Knoxville came out on top—and cities in the South and Midwest comprised the top 10. Gallup, which examined whether residents self-identified as religious or not, found Utah's Provo-Orem metro area to be on top (and only shared two cities with Barna's list).By the way, Montgomery was 2nd in that Gallup list. The more regional Barna survey had Birmingham at #4, but that may have included all or part of the River Region.
And, we had Men's Health listing Colorado Springs as America's most religious city not too long ago.
Well, the real estate company Movoto has released its lists of the Most Sinful and Most Saintly cities in the U.S. And, the results may surprise you - for one thing, you don't see any Southern cities on the saintly side. I don't know how conclusive this one would be considered, but the criteria are actually based on - the Bible! The so-called 7 Deadly Sins were used to make the determination. Researchers identified statistics
compatible with each of the seven, in this manner:
- Strip clubs per capita (Lust)
- Cosmetic surgeons per capita (Pride)
- Violent crime per year per 1,000 residents (Wrath)
- Theft per year per 1,000 residents (Envy)
- Percentage of disposable income given to charity each year (Greed)
- Percentage of obese residents (Gluttony)
- Percentage of physically inactive residents (Sloth)
1. St. Louis, MO
2. Orlando, FL
3. Minneapolis, MN
4. Pittsburgh, PA
5. Milwaukee, WI
6. Cincinnati, OH
7. Miami, FL
8. Buffalo, NY
9. Detroit, MI
10. Las Vegas, NV
And, conversely, the Most Saintly are:
1. New York, NY
2. Gilbert, AZ
3. Fremont, CA
4. Glendale, CA
5. Chula Vista, CA
6. Colorado Springs, CO
7. Chandler, AZ
8. Long Beach, CA
9. San Jose, CA
10. Irvine, CA
Keep in mind, the Movoto blog refers to itself as "the lighter side of real estate". Their explanation for the Big Apple being at #1:
We were as surprised by that result at first as you probably were, until we considered the fact that our calculations were all done on a per capita basis. Like we said earlier, NYC might have a lot of theft, crime, and strip clubs, but at 8.2 million residents the math is squarely in its favor. We’re sure that there are probably a few folks who are surprised to see so many California cities in the top 10, but, as with NYC, we see that assumptions aren’t always accurate. If anything, between our two surveys of the most and least sinful cities, we’ve found that the long-held belief that the South and Midwest are more traditionally wholesome no longer stands up—at least based on the criteria we used.So, it is all about the criteria here...and whether or not we individually are saintly or sinful is determined by a set of Biblical criteria. Yesterday, we talked about the power of a name. And, one of those designations given to us as believers in Christ is "saint". Generally, we think of saints as people who have done extraordinary things, who are treasured in the lore of a particular religion or culture. But, the Bible has a different definition. Because we have been born again and transferred from the kingdom of darkness into His marvelous light, we are considered to be saints.
That identity is not conditional on action, but on heart change - but we would expect, and I believe God expects, our actions to line up with that name. And, grasping the meaning of that word can help us. If we view ourselves as merely saved sinners, then maybe we will behave based on that belief that it is just consistent with our nature, who we are, to commit sins. Perhaps viewing ourselves as saints who sin will help us reduce our rate of sinning. We do have a new identity, and how we regard ourselves will determine how we approach the sin issues in our lives. Because of that new heart, we now have the ability to put off the old nature and put on the resources that God has made available to us in Christ Jesus, flowing from a relationship with our Savior.
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