WHY WE ARE SO DIFFERENT: THE CALLED OF GOD

05/14/2023

"Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified." (Romans 8:30)

The Christian is predestined and called. Predestined and called to be what? We are predestined and called to be saints. Unlike some people who would want you to believe that we wait for a person to die before venerating, beatifying, and then conferring sainthood, the Bible declares that we are called to be saints the moment we become born again. We are not going to be saints in the sweet bye-and-bye; when we get to heaven. We are saints now. Writing to the Church in Rome, Paul addresses us as "...beloved of God, called to be saints..." (Romans 1:7). 

This automatically quashes the thinking that we ought to live right to qualify to be saints, no. We are saints first, and the moment we became saints at the new birth, the onus rested on us to live right. 

Hear me, you are not a human being. Human beings have been sold under sin according to the scriptures (in Romans 7:14). You are a saint, and by virtue of being a saint, right living comes to you naturally. The call of God on your life is to reign as a king-priest over sin, death, and the grave. Romans 5:17 says, "For if by the one man's offence death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.) This is why we are different. The human being cannot help himself but live flawlessly according to the dictates of the senses, but the saint lives under the dictates of God's word and His Spirit, and here's why. Jesus said in John 3:6-7, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.'"

This is why we are different, we are born of the Spirit, and this means that the ecosystem from which we live is not dictated by the constraints and limitations of this world. The one who gave us birth is God, and what this means is that we are only subject to Him. Everything else in the pecking order of this universe is thus subject to the Church and its membership. And so nothing else matters but to do the bidding of our God for which we have been equipped. 

Finally, we are called to be slaves to nothing but the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. Romans 8:37-39 says, "Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

So the next time you are tempted to compromise on any front, recognize its a bogus enticement to settle for less than you are. You are called to be a saint. 

Faith-Filled Confession

I am called to be a saint. Therefore, I live holy before my God to whom I belong. I am a slave to nothing but the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. Hallelujah!

One-Year Reading Plan:  2 Kings 6-8; John 4:31-54