A spiritual person lives life first by principles and perspectives grounded in God’s spiritual realm. The natural man first references principles and perspectives that are grounded in the natural realm.  Those reference points are very different.  If we find our identity in the spiritual realm through what Christ has done for us then we are living as spiritual men and women.  If we find our identity primarily in the natural realm then we are not living as spiritual men or women.  If we are to experience all that God has for us on this earth we must choose to live as spiritual people and give God’s word much more weight than anything we have been taught or told in the toxic environment of a fallen world.

Paul’s letter to the church in Ephesus is full of references about who every believer is in Christ.  In that letter we discover who God says we are rather than what the world or the broken people in our lives say we are.  The church in Ephesus was in dire need of such revelation.  Ephesus was a significant, cosmopolitan city in the days of Paul. Great pagan temples stood in the city and with its harbor it was a city of trade and financial power as well.  It was primarily Greek in culture with Rome adding her influence.  In the New Testament it becomes apparent that many of the early Christians were not great or influential by the world’s standards.  Even the apostles had been only fishermen and tax collectors rather than educators, statesmen, or business czars.  The early church had some people of standing and wealth but most were slaves and working class people.  In a city like Ephesus it would have been easy to feel inferior or inadequate.  It would have been easy to feel like powerless people following a new and strange religion scoffed at by the rich and powerful.  Because of that, I believe the Holy Spirit revealed their status in the Heavenly Jerusalem so that they might walk among the powerful in Ephesus not just as equals but as citizens of an even greater and enduring city.

Paul beings simply with “To the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus” (Eph.1:1).  In the Kingdom of God every believer is a saint, a holy one. Biblically, the idea of “saint” is not some super Christian but a saint is one who has been sanctified or set apart for service to God.  No one in the kingdom is ordinary.  As a believer you have been set apart from every unbeliever on the planet.  You have been given the Holy Spirit as a seal marking you as one who belongs to the King. This seal makes you a citizen of heaven and grants you the rights and privileges of those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.  Though the world may view you as ordinary the Creator sees you as exceptional, set apart, designated as holy, his beloved, his family, his son, his daughter, and his designated representative on the earth. On top of that you are declared faithful. Faithfulness is of great value in the Kingdom of Heaven.   Perhaps, you are not always faithful but you are counted as faithful in Christ while God is working in you to make your heart match the word he has declared over you.

So then, you are holy.  You are a saint.  You are faithful.  These are highly significant descriptions in the spiritual realm.  These designations make you greater than kings and presidents who rule in the natural realm and they give you authority over demons.  Paul says that you will judge angels (See 1 Cor, 6:3).  On that day you will sit higher than any Supreme Court Justice and have more glory than any celebrity on the planet.  It is not who you will be some day but who you are now because God has declared it. That is who you are and that is just a start. More tomorrow.  Be blessed today knowing who you are.