American swimming icon Michael Phelps made some surprising remarks awhile back. "I thought the world would just be better off without me," he said, recalling a dark time he went through in 2014. "I figured that was the best thing to do — just end my life ... I was struggling to figure out who I was outside the pool." Sometimes it's hard to see yourself as worth much, no matter how accomplished your life has been.

God knows we all struggle with self-worth and purpose. Age, occupation and résumé don't matter. No one is immune to it. That's why He sent His Son, left us His Spirit, and gave us His Word, the Bible. The book of Ephesians connects the dots on many of these fronts. Join me in exploring. Taking a good look will be worth it.

The book of Ephesians opens with a bang. The author, Paul the apostle, calls his writing audience “saints,” much to their surprise. These cosmopolitan Ephesians were spiritual infants, unformed and uninformed in many ways. He called them saints not because they had quickly perfected themselves. He tagged them saints because that's how God viewed them. God says saints are saints relationally, because of who they belong to, because their righteousness does not come from themselves but from Christ. He wanted folks to see their sin and need, but also their worth and purpose. He wanted them to see more.

And the same applies to us. We become saints through Him, not us. When this sense of sainthood breaks through to us, when we find our true worth and sense of purpose in Jesus, performance pressure and sinner stains lift. Because of Christ's righteousness imputed to us by faith, we become saints.

So stop calling yourself just a sinner. Stop entertaining a worthless, hopeless mentality. Find forgiveness, healing, true worth and purpose. Try calling yourself a saint. That's our calling because of Christ! And then go out and act like a saint, faithful and grateful as can be.

Reflect: How's that for seeing more? How's that for a spiritual lift?