Many of us find this hard to believe because we spend so much time looking at our own imperfect performance and so little time looking at Jesus’ perfect performance on our behalf. There’s a reason we tend to focus on the wrong thing, though, and it may not be what you think.

Pride Is the Problem

Many of us are still sort of shocked by the fact that we struggle with sin to the degree we do. We wrongly believe the cross and grace were important when we first got saved, but now it’s up to us to maintain our end of the bargain. Then when we fail to perform up to our standards (let alone God’s), we get down on ourselves.

So we try harder. And fail again—until pretty soon the idea of being a saint can seem like nothing more than a work of fiction to us. But that’s pride speaking. God wants us to confess our sins and then go forth as saints because that’s who He says we are.

Bottom Line

A large part of the Christian life consists in believing what God says despite our feelings or current experience. Embrace your sainthood!