February 14, 2025 What Name is Given?
Friday, February 14, 2025
What Name is Given?
To all God’s beloved in Rome,
who are called to be saints:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father
and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Romans 1:7, NRSVUE
A captivating thought: Out of nothingness, God created Day and Night. Yet, when referred to together, He named them Day, after the redeeming quality of the two (Genesis 1:3-5).
Likewise with us. As followers of Christ who are still growing into the full image of Christ, we are simultaneously sinners and saints. Yet, when looking at our new nature as believers, God identifies and names us saints, even though we still sometimes sin. We belong to Him. He calls us His Beloved, His holy people:
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation,
God’s own people in order that you may proclaim
the excellence of him who called you out of darkness
into his marvelous light.
(1 Peter 2:9, NRSVUE)
Reassuring fact: believers are not referred to as sinners anywhere in the New Testament. In the words of C. H. Spurgeon, through grace:
[we] possess some degree of holiness…like the ‘day’,
[we] do not take [our] name from the evening, but from the morning
and [we] are spoken of in the Word of God
as if [we] were even now perfectly holy,
as [we] will be soon.*
Day dawns in us as grace overcomes our night’s sinful nature. Eventually, through His grace, our “days” and degree of holiness grow longer until we are perfected in Christ.
P.S. Happy Valentine’s Day
Reflect: How is God calling you to think differently about yourself? How can you ensure that your days (and faith) grow longer, and you live increasingly into and out of your saintly nature?
Pray: Heavenly Father, thank You for calling me Beloved and naming me Saint despite my imperfections. Grant me the grace to live each day more fully in Your light, to grow in faith and holiness, and to reflect Your love and marvelous works to the world. In the name of Your Son, Jesus, Amen.
By His Grace,
Gloria Ashby,
Lay Leader
*C.H. Spurgeon, Morning and Evening.