Saints Who Occasionally Sin

I went to the Men's Retreat the men's ministry at JBU holds each year. A lot of great, manly things happened, and manly bonding time and whatnot. But I also had to confront some sorta theological issues that I hadn't bothered to deal with in a long time, mostly 'cause my view on Christianity remains very distinctly different from that of other kiddos.

The first night, we talked about holiness. The thing is, people almost seem to check out when anyone mentions holiness, primarily because it seems like a bit of a far-fetched fairytale idea. And that's kinda strange, since Jesus does tell us, "Be holy as I am holy." I once heard Benny Perez, a pastor in Las Vegas, say "We're not sinners. We're saints who occasionally sin." As Christians, we aren't defined by our sinfulness; we're defined by our salvation. If we refer to ourselves as "sinners", it's like claiming to be an orphan when you have a family, or that you're unemployed when you have a job.

So when we talk about holiness, we need to recognize that it's a real thing that Christ has for us. The moment we step into His grace, we gain the ability to be holy in Him. Jesus didn't just die; He rose again. We're defined by that life in the resurrection.

Anyway, my positive outlook on Christianity tends to clash with others who focus more on the level Christ brought us from, since my view aims more at the level Christ has brought us to.