Wise Words on Wednesday: Saint and sinners

Every Christian should find for himself the imperative and incentive to become holy.

If you live without struggle and without hope of becoming holy, then you are Christians only in name and not in essence. But without holiness, no one shall see the Lord, that is to say they will not attain eternal blessedness.

It is a trustworthy saying that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners (1 Timothy 1:15). But we deceive ourselves if we think that we are saved while remaining sinners. Christ saves those sinners by giving them the means to become saints.

– St. Philaret of Moscow