SAINT'S AND SINNERS

Greetings all of ye SAINT'S and SINNERS...and ye know who ye are.

Bruce Cockburn...Canada's son...who has international appeal in the world of music, politics, and spiritual appeal. His music is laced with melody, rhythms, social commentary and reflections of his faith in Jesus Christ. He is NOT a Contemporary Christian Artist...but his music speaks and challenges me to be a better Christian. One of his 40 or so albums was BREAKFAST IN NEW ORLEANS, DINNER IN TIMBUKTU. The first song on the album is called When You Give It Away. One line that jumps out at me is:

Deep in the city of SAINTS and FOOLS
Pearls before pigs and DUNG becomes JEWELS
I sit down with TIGERS, I sit down with LAMBS
None of them know who exactly I am
I've got this thing in my heart
I must give you today
It only lives when you
GIVE IT AWAY.

Our mindset of SAINTS versus SINNERS is the SAINT is the one with the perfect halo around their heads...who are never tempted or if they are tempted they defeat temptation and their halo is never tarnished...while the SINNER is obvious. They look the part. Fill in the blank of what you think a "sinner" looks like...the only problem is that if you put a saint and sinner side by side...you may not be able to tell the difference. THE SAINT is a literary character that leaps off the pages of books written in the 1920's and 30's (written by Leslie Charteris) and leaps onto the movie screen (played by various characters from George Raft to Val Kilmer) and onto the T.V. (played by Roger Moore...who played in Maverick, The Persuaders, James Bond, etc). The Saint is Simon Templer (S.T.)...aka The Saint, The Hapy Highwayman, the Brighter Buccanner, the Robin Hood of Modern Crime. He is age 31, height 6 ft. 2 in., weight 175 lbs, eyes blue, hair black and brushed back straight, compelxion tanned, bullet scar through upper left shoulder, 8 inch scar on right forearm. Special characteristis includes: Always immaculately dresse, lxurious tastes, lives in the most expensive hotels, and is a connoisseur of food and wine. Carries firearms and is an expert knife thrower. He is a liscensed air pilot and speaks several languages fluently. He is known as THE SAINT from a habit of leaving drawings of a skeleton figure with halo at the scenes of crimes. I was reading the book The Saint: Knight Templar last night and discovered a RUMINATOR connection with the Saint. In one of his brushes with the Law...he was smooth talking a constable...and, "The Law blinked BOVINELY MEDITATIVE." That's the state of mind that we are...BOVINELY MEDITATIVE. Anyway, that's what prompted this Rambling about SAINTS and SINNERS. It don't take much now do it. : )

SAINT: (1) a holy person (2) a person who is exceptionally meek, charitable, patient, etc. (3) those, esp. holy persons, who have died and are believed to be with God. (4) in the New Testment, any Christian (5) in certain Christian chruches, a person officially recognized as having live an exeptinally holy life, and thsu as being in heaven and capable of interceding for sinners; canonized person. NOTE: For those who are bristling at the picture of Jimmy Swaggert next to a definition of a saint...take a chill pill.

SAINTS: People who have been made holy in God's eyes through Christ's merit ALONE. Followers of the Lord are referred to by this phrase throughout the Bible, although it's meaning is developed more fully in the New Testament. Consecration (setting apart) and purity are the basic meanings of the terms. Believers are called saints (Romans 1:7) and saints in Christ Jesus (Philippians 1:1) because they belong completely to the ONE who has provided their sanctifications (I Corinthians 1:2, I Corninthians 6:9-11).
(Hayford's Bible Handbook)

SINNER: (1) a person who sins (2) a wrongdoer (3) someone who misses the mark, fails, offense, taking the wong cours, wrongdoing

NOTE: For those who are wondering...this is a picture of Dr. SYN aka The Scarecrow of Romny Marsh...a Disney series starring Patrick McGoohan aka Secret Agent Man, The Prisoner, etc.

Well...who is a sinner who is a saint. We see in Romans 3:10..."As it is written...there is NONE righteous, no not one." Again in Romans 3:23, "For all have SINNED, and fallen short of the glory of God."
Isaiah 53:6 points out that..."ALL of us like sheep have gone astray, EACH of us has turned to his own way...BUT the Lord has caused the iniquity of US ALL to fall on Him." Romans 5:12 points out that...
"Therefore, just as through ONE MAN SIN (Adam) entered into the world...and death through SIN...and so death spread to ALL MEN, because ALL SINNED."

There appears to be a large gulf...a gap...between us and God...and that expanse that seperates us from God is SIN. So at this point...it appears that this sin factor makes us sinners. So what can take us from that SINNER category...and bring is into the SAINT category.

Maybe if we live right. Maybe if we just do some good works. Maybe if we go to church. Maybe if we quit smoking, drinking, chewing, cussing, fornicating, gossiping, (fill in the blank with anything that you consider bad)....or maybe if I go to church, tithe, give to the Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy telethon, give money to those guys selling newspapers for children, maybe light a candle, maybe have a priest wave over us and chant spiritus sanctum sodium penethol...maybe if we do our best to keep the 10 commandments...after all keeping 6 out of 10 commandments is still 60% and that's passing with a D... maybe we can rely on our Grandmother's faith to get us in. What is it going to take to get us from sinnerhood to sainthood.

"For by GRACE (unmerited favor) you have been SAVED...through faith (in the D.B.R.) and that NOT OF YOURSELVES...it is the GIFT of God; NOT AS A RESULT OF WORKS...that no one should boast."
(Ephesians 2:8)

"He saved us...NOT ON THE BASIS OF DEEDS WHICH WE HAVE DONE IN RIGHTEOUSNESS...but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit." (Titus 3:5)

"For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this...that one died (Jesus) for all (that includes you) therefore all (you and me) died...and He (Jesus) died for all (again, you and me) that they who live (that would be us) should no longer live for themselves (it ain't all about us anymore)...but for Him (it's all about Him baby)...who died and rose again on their (you and me) behalf.=D.B.R. (II Corinthians 5:14-15)

"And this is th emessage we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is light, and IN Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from ALL SIN. If we say that we have no SIN, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. IF (this hinges on our choice) we confess our SINS, He is faithful and righteous to FORGIVE US OUR SINS...and to CLEANSE us from ALL unrighteousness." (I John 1:5-10)

"For HE delivered us from the DOMAIN/AUTHORITY of DARKNESS...and transferred us to the KINGDOM OF HIS BELOVED SON, in whom we have REDEMPTION, the FORGIVENESS OF SINS."
(Colossians 1:13,14)

"I have been (it's good to be a has been) crucified WITH Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I NOW live in the FLESH...I live by FAITH IN THE SON OF GOD (faith in the D.B.R...nothing more...nothing less)...who loved me and deliverd HImself up for me." Galatians 2:20

"That if you CONFESS (come into agreement with what God says) with your mouth Jesus as Lord (the boss) and you BELIEVE with your heart (not just a mental acknowledgment of facts)...that God has RAISED HIM FROM THE DEAD, you shall be SAVED....for with the heart man BELIEVES...resulting in righteousness...and with the MOUTH he confesses, resulting in SALVATION...for WHOEVER will CALL upon the name of the Lord will be saved." (Romans 10:9-10; Romans 10:13)

"But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God...even to those who believe in His name, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." (John 1:12,13)

Well...from one sinner turned saint to another...from one beggar telling another beggar where he found a piece of bread...I have found that the difference between trying and trusting is results. If you are weary in trying to be a saint...or if you have given up...give TRUSTING a try. God will take IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS (what he did inside of you)...and work out IMPARTED RIGHTEOUSNESS (the process of revealing outwardly what is inwardly done...and it is a process). If you have never taken the first step in accepting Jesus...or if you have in the past and are currently in a backslidden state...He is waiting for you with open arms. Give me a call. This old sinner/saint will pray with you.

Love And Saintly Kisses
Rodney "God Ain't Through With Me Yet" Boyd