Reformation Monday: Saint and Sinner......forgiven and forgiven

It's a muddle:  we are saint by virtue of our baptism and sinner by virtue of the fact that we are still alive and breathing.  Perfect holiness is accomplished (completed) only when we are one with God in the life to come.  So what's a faithful and earnest believer to do?

Rely on the great and enduring forgiveness of God in Jesus.  Into this muddle of saint and sinner comes Jesus' announcement of forgiveness and invitation into the Kingdom.  Remember on the cross how Jesus forgave the thief?  So too with us.  Again and again we approach the cross, cry out to God, and leave to live yet another day as an imperfect child of the water. We are always forgiven but remembering that and trusting it deep in our hearts is another thing.

Of course, the more you are aware of your own brokenness, the more powerful the gift of God's forgiveness becomes.  God  loves us.  Not in spite of who we are but exactly as we are.  God is not fooled while at the same time God will not be turned aside.  That forgiveness offers us a new beginning to life with a clean slate.

Some will discount this great gift of forgiveness and simply rely on it as if entitled....as if God owes it to them.  That's a dangerous approach to life in God.  When we fail to pay attention to God, when we get lazy in our relationship with God we risk simply forgetting....wandering away without any awareness that we are lost.

Saint and sinner....forgiven and forgiven....in the waters of baptism, in the meal of bread and wine, body and blood, and at the cross for all eternity.