Saints, Heroes, and Heroines

        Over time, I  would like to share with you some of my favorite saints, heroes, and heroines.  By saints I do not mean those that have been canonized by the Catholic Church, although some of them have been.  By saints, I mean a Christian who has led an exemplary life of faith and courage and is worthy of imitation.

One problem in our modern culture is to think of a saint merely as a person in heaven, someone so perfect in holiness that we  would never consider ourselves as ever being saint material.  Today, I want to encourage you that if you are a Christian, then you are a saint.  With that realization should come a very sobering thought that we should live like the saints we are called to be.  Some people in this world have had their hearts hardened towards belief in Jesus as a result of knowing someone who called themselves a Christian, but didn't live like a saint.

I would like to share with you a few scriptures on the topic of saints.  In the future, I will share with you some of my favorite saints, heroes, and heroines.  We are living in a culture where it is getting harder to find men and women who are worthy role models who would inspire us to greater lives of love, service, and faith.  I hope to encourage you with some of the worthy people that I have discovered.

You will notice that I want to include heroes and heroines as well.  Not all heroes and heroines are saints,but all saints are either heroes or heroines.  Some of my examples will be people who have had a great impact spiritually and others will be inspirational lives from history.  Some examples that I share will be saints that I know or have known in this life.

Here are some scriptures to start your own thinking:

First of all, we have some responsibilities towards other saints.
1. We are to pray for other saints

 Ephesians 6:18:  With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit , and with this in view, be on the
  alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints.

2. We are to minister to the needs of other saints.
    Hebrews 6:10: For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward      
    His name, in having ministered and in still ministering to the saints.

3.We are to contribute to the needs of the saints.
   Romans 12:13...contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality...

4. We are to live lives of integrity.
   Ephesians 5: 3 and 4:
   But do not let immorality or any impurity or greed even be named among you, as is proper among saints,
   and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather of giving
   thanks.

5. We have the help of the Holy Spirit.
    Romans 8:27:  ...and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He
    intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

6.We will be with Jesus when He returns.
   1st Thessalonians 3:13:  ...so that He may establish your hearts unblamable  in holiness before our God and
    Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints.

In future posts, I will begin sharing with you some of my favorite saints, heroes, and heroines.  If you are looking for something positive to do with your children this summer, I encourage you to pick a few biographies of some of these exciting Christian heroes.  Some of my favorites are missionaries. YWAM publishers writes some great missionary books.  Look them up on the internet.  They even include unit study books to enrich your studies.  You could end each study with a special meal including foods from the country of your current missionary hero. Have a special time of prayer, thanking God for this hero of the faith.  Ask God to help develop in you the qualities in this saint's life that would bring glory to God.