traditions take great care to memorialize people who reportedly have

lived lives overflowing with goodness. When we hear the word ‘saint’ in

front of someone’s name, we think of them as being on a higher plane

spiritually. But the word simply means holy ones who are set apart.

Another word we can use for that is sanctified. And Israel was being set

apart and called out to be a holy people by God in the Exodus story.

They were far from ‘overflowing with goodness’. But they belonged to God

and the Lord was going to work to form them into a nation that was

sanctified. Today, all believers in the New Testament are called

saints. The same idea that God was working out in Israel applies to us

today. How is God working to set us apart, and how can we step into this

amazing privilege?