23.September.2026
I grew up singing a hymn I still remember word for word. I sing a song of the saints of God, patient and brave and true, who toiled and fought and lived and died for the Lord they loved and knew. It closes with, and I hope to be one too. I sang that line for years without ever questioning it, because it was familiar, because it was sung with love, because it came from a hymnal I trusted. But familiarity is not the same thing as truth.
This people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men. Isaiah 29:13
Taught by the precept of men. That phrase describes exactly what happened with that hymn, and honestly with a lot of what gets handed to us in church without anyone stopping to check it against the Truth of God’s Word. Somewhere along the way, sainthood got reframed as a distant hope, something you might become if you toil and fight and live faithfully enough. But that is not what the Word actually says.
Called to be saints. Romans 1:7
Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints. 1 Corinthians 1:2
Paul was not writing to a handful of extraordinary believers who had earned a special title. He was writing to ordinary people, and he called them saints as their present identity. Sainthood was never based on anything I have said, done, or believed hard enough. It is based entirely on the blood Jesus shed. He paid for sin once and for all, and the moment someone makes Him Lord, that identity is already theirs. Not something to hope for someday. Something already true.
Hear what I am saying and also what I am not saying. This does not negate living a holy life. God loved us before we ever loved Him, and once He becomes Lord, we are absolutely called to live set apart, according to the plan He has for us. But that holiness was never the thing that made us saints in the first place, it is the natural response to already being one. It is not attending every service, not singing every song on Sunday morning or Wednesday night, not finding every possible task to put our hands to. It is what is actually in our heart, and what comes out of it, that He cares about.
So here is the real question this series is going to keep asking. Just because something is familiar, sung for generations, taught since childhood, does that make it true? Or is it possible we have been taught, even sincerely, by the precept of men instead of the word of God?
Whose report will you believe? (Isaiah 53:1)
If you have never given your life to Jesus Christ, you can do that right now. Pray this with me:
Dear Heavenly Father,
I confess that I have sinned, and I believe Jesus died for my sins and rose again on the third day. I ask Jesus, come into my heart and be my Lord and Savior. Thank You for saving me.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Make today count and see you tomorrow.
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