What do you usually think of when you hear the word saint? Most of us think of some revered religious person. But what about the person you see in the mirror?

Though most of us don’t see ourselves as saints, that is what we are when we believe in Jesus. Because of his work, we are being sanctified, made holy, as we live out our lives serving the Lord—and that means we are saints.

Because of Jesus, I am not what I or others will often perceive me to be. Instead, I am who God declares me to be. Through Jesus’ sacrifice for my sake, I am now declared righteous and holy.

Paul understood that we are profoundly transformed in God’s sight when we come to faith in Jesus. That’s why Paul begins his letter to the Ephesian believers by addressing them as “God’s holy people.” Literally, he refers to them as “the saints in Ephesus.” Despite being new to the faith and still having a long way to go in their spiritual development, Paul recognizes them as saints.

A saint is someone consecrated to God and set apart for God’s service. Through baptism, believers are marked as God’s treasured possession, set apart for his divine purposes. Just as it would be foolish to build only a doghouse on the foundation of a skyscraper, it would be foolish to build anything less than a sanctified life on the foundation Jesus established for us.