All who are on the path towards God’s holiness are saints. Doesn’t matter if you are just beginning your faith journey, were raised by Wiccans, or have a boss that demands that you work on Sundays; anyone on a path that prioritizes spirituality over going with the normal flow of human depravity is a saint. The Apostle Paul used the word saint very freely, writing letters that began “to the saints at so and so,” even when the recipients of these epistles were both alive and strangers to him.1 I share his democratic definition of saint, adding that I have met many people that I consider to be saints who were not even Christians. Sainthood is a journey, not a destination. Further, it is a wilderness journey in which saints are always in trouble.
Imagine yourself wanting to learn how to juggle. The moment you pick up two balls and try to keep them simultaneously in the air, you are a juggler. If you stop at two balls, then you are no longer a juggler, but a wimp. Only by challenging yourself — adding balls, juggling irregular objects, practicing in public, etc — do you remain a juggler in trouble. Staying in trouble is an essential aspect of sanctification, or the process of becoming holy.
I remember distinctly a discouraging night in the first year of my marriage. It shouldn’t be this hard, I thought. I hit the wall in frustration and heard a small tinkle in the adjacent room. My wife had a knick-knack shelf and a glass frog had taken the leap off it, onto the linoleum floor. In the morning, I was calmer and noted the porcelain frog lying there unbroken. A miracle with a moral; it is easy to see beauty in another person and feel love, remaining in a relationship involves trouble, a leap of faith, and constantly finding new ways to express that love. It is hard, like juggling in front of an audience and learning as you go. The trick is to not flee from trouble, but to embrace it. The process of living in love, as Christ did, requires becoming a saint in trouble.
Holiness is a practice, not a goal to be achieved. Just as a healer is someone who practices medicine, be it for the body, mind, or soul; so a saint is someone who practices holiness, even if they haven’t made any significant progress towards becoming Christ-like. Further, it is a latent process. Most of its achievements and goals lie hidden within the privacy of your inner being. We are, here and now…
…children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known.
But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him…
– I John 3:2