“But I don’t understand you very well. What about saints? they were holy men, were they not, set apart for special work at that special time? How could their experience touch yours?”
“I don’t think so. I think they were just men and women who loved the Lord Jesus Christ, and were called by his name, just as you and I are.”
“But we are not saints; at least I am not.”
“But you are called to be?”
“I don’t understand you.”
“Don’t you? Think of that verse of Paul’s, ‘Unto the Church of God, which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints.’ Now, you know we are sanctified in Christ Jesus, so are we not called to be saints?”
“I don’t know what ‘sanctified’ means very well; and, besides, I can’t help thinking that the letter was written to the Church at Corinth. I don’t live in Corinth; how do I know that the address fits me? If I should find a letter addressed to the people who live on Twenty-third Street, wouldn’t I be likely to say, ‘Well, I have nothing to do with that; I live on Fifth Avenue?’”
“Ah! but suppose the very next sentence read, ‘And to all that love the Lord Jesus Christ,’ wouldn’t you claim the letter?”
“Yes,” said Ruth, with a flash of joy in her face, “I think I could.”
“Well, don’t you know the next words are, ‘With all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours.’”