【双语灵修】我是一个圣徒I AM A SAINT

以弗所书 1:1-6

奉神旨意做基督耶稣使徒的保罗，写信给在以弗所的圣徒，就是在基督耶稣里有忠心的人。愿恩惠、平安从神我们的父和主耶稣基督归于你们！

愿颂赞归于我们主耶稣基督的父神！他在基督里曾赐给我们天上各样属灵的福气，就如神从创立世界以前在基督里拣选了我们，使我们在他面前成为圣洁，无有瑕疵；又因爱我们，就按着自己意旨所喜悦的，预定我们藉着耶稣基督得儿子的名分，使他荣耀的恩典得着称赞。这恩典是他在爱子里所赐给我们的。

5月12日

我是一个圣徒

“奉神旨意做基督耶稣使徒的保罗，写信给在以弗所的圣徒……。” - 弗 1:1

听到圣徒（saint）这个名词时，你通常会想到甚么？大多数人都会想起一些受人尊敬的敬虔人士。可是，你有没有想到你在镜子里看到的人也是呢？

纵使大多数人都不会视自己为圣徒，然而，当我们相信耶稣后，我们便有这个身份。因着祂作成的工，我们已被洁净，成为圣洁了，我们过着事奉主的生活——这样我们便成为圣徒了。

因着基督，我不再是自己或其他人心目中的人了，反之，神宣称我是谁我就是谁。借着耶稣为我牺牲，神现在宣告我是公义和圣洁的。

保罗明白，当我们相信耶稣时，神看我们为被彻底改变了的人，这就是保罗以称呼以弗所信徒为“圣徒”来开始他写给他们信的原因。他确实称他们为“在以弗所的圣徒。”尽管他们是初信主的，仍然需要长时间的属灵操练，保罗仍然称他们为圣徒。

圣徒是一个被神洁净，分别为圣来事奉神的人。借着洗礼，信徒被标记为神所分别出来的宝贵，为要成就神圣洁的旨意。我们若在耶稣为我们立的根基上建立任何低于圣洁生活标准的生命，就如在摩天大厦的地基上只建造一间狗屋那样愚昧呢。

祷告

主神啊，感谢你在耶稣里使我们成圣。求你帮助我们按我们新的圣徒身份过每一天。奉耶稣的名祈求，阿们。

Ephesians 1:1-6

MONDAY, MAY 12

I AM A SAINT

“[From] Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To God’s holy people in Ephesus. . . .” — Ephesians 1:1

What do you usually think of when you hear the word saint? Most of us think of some revered religious person. But what about the person you see in the mirror?

Though most of us don’t see ourselves as saints, that is what we are when we believe in Jesus. Because of his work, we are being sanctified, made holy, as we live out our lives serving the Lord—and that means we are saints.

Because of Jesus, I am not what I or others will often perceive me to be. Instead, I am who God declares me to be. Through Jesus’ sacrifice for my sake, I am now declared righteous and holy.

Paul understood that we are profoundly transformed in God’s sight when we come to faith in Jesus. That’s why Paul begins his letter to the Ephesian believers by addressing them as “God’s holy people.” Literally, he refers to them as “the saints in Ephesus.” Despite being new to the faith and still having a long way to go in their spiritual development, Paul recognizes them as saints.

A saint is someone consecrated to God and set apart for God’s service. Through baptism, believers are marked as God’s treasured possession, set apart for his divine purposes. Just as it would be foolish to build only a doghouse on the foundation of a skyscraper, it would be foolish to build anything less than a sanctified life on the foundation Jesus established for us.

Lord God, thank you for making us holy in Jesus. Help us to live into our new identity as saints each day. Amen.