All Saints’ Day

Friday was All Saints’ Day, or officially, All Hallows' Day. We actually get Halloween from this holiday as the night before was called Hallowed Evening, and then shortened to Halloween. No, Halloween is not Satan’s birthday…Satan wouldn’t have a birthday, but that’s a whole ‘nother blog.

All Saints’ Day began in 609 AD and was initially intended to commemorate Christian martyrs. It has since morphed into a celebration in Roman Catholicism to honor all who had gone through the complicated process of the canonization of Saints.

The Bible actually teaches that all people who put their faith in Jesus are saints. When you hear “saint,” think of "saved one.” The Greek word used in the New Testament for “saint” is used to describe a person who has been saved by Jesus, and is therefore set apart as holy to the Lord. So many Scriptures attest to this (i.e. Romans 1:7, 1 Corinthians 1:2, Colossians 1:2, Ephesians 1:1).

As Evangelicals, we reject the notion of saints being only those “super Christians” who have been elected into sainthood by church officials. Instead, we believe the Bible refers to saints as being all genuine followers of Jesus.

But, this holiday can and should be a valuable commemoration for all of us as Christians to thank God for those who have gone before us, who passed their faith on to us, and who served as Christian examples in following Jesus unconditionally.

One such person I thank God for on this day was a man named Everett Hasse. He was a godly man who was my dad’s boss. He regularly witnessed to and prayed for my dad. It’s because of Everett’s faithful witness that I eventually came to his church, heard the Gospel, and put my faith in Jesus.

Thanks to Everett, my life was changed, which then led to a domino effect in my family. My kids, and now their kids, are all the beneficiaries of Everett’s faithfulness. And in a sense, all those I’ve been blessed to influence with the Gospel owe their life-change to Everett’s faithful witness, too. Our church is what it is today partly due to an unassuming, humble, and godly man who loved Jesus so much that he could not keep from sharing the Gospel with a troubled man who worked for him.

I believe it’s honoring to the Lord to remember saints who have gone before us and influenced us. So I remember Everett Hasse, Mark Shore, Myron Cedarholm, Warren Wiersbe, C. S. Lewis, Charles Spurgeon, as well as a host of godly and faithful Christians before them. All Saints’ Day is a wonderful opportunity for that.