Living as Saints should live

Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints sometimes get some raised eyebrows when people hear our full name. Nicknamed "mormon" for one of our books of scripture, most people wonder why it is that we insist on being called by our full name. The most important reason is that we are Christians. We believe that Jesus Christ was foreordained, or chosen, from the beginning to be the Savior of mankind. He lived a perfect life filled with loving service, suffered for our sins, and ultimately died for us. Through Him, we can be forgiven of our sins and have eternal life with Him and God if we choose to follow the guidelines that They gave us, guidelines which can enable us to become like Them.
Ok, so what's the next part of our name mean? What in the world is a "latter-day saint"? No, we don't worship or pray to saints. We do think that many of those people are wonderful, righteous people who have done remarkable things, but we don't worship them. The saints in our name refers to ourselves. Presumptuous? Might sound like it, huh? What we mean by it is that we are people who seek to be sanctified - those who try their best to become like our Heavenly Father and follow the example of our Savior. When we do those things which Christ would do, we are purifying our lives, thus sanctifying us and helping us to become saints. In other words, it's not a title we have now, but something we work for.

To put it simply, we are followers of Christ who try to be like Him and also ask for His help in helping us become the best we can be - like God.

So what is it that a Saint should do? I'll give you some examples:
(if you have a Bible, most of the things I'm talking about come from Romans chapters 12-15)

• Romans 12:1 Saints dedicate their lives to obeying God's commandments and serving others
• '' 12:2 Saints cultivate their minds, seek after truth, and don't conform to worldly perspectives
• 12:9 Saints seek after good things and reject bad things. 
• 12:13 Saints treat others with love and charity
• 12:16  Saints aren't full of themselves - they always treat others how they would like to be treated.
• 12:21 Saints "overcome evil with good"  - they don't sit back and watch bad things happen. Saints step up to the plate.
• 13:1 Saints seek and acknowledge the help of God
• 13:3 Saints use their talents and influence for good and unselfish purposes
• 13:8 Saints are organized and responsible, thus are able to take care of others
• 13:9 Saints do not go against the will of God. They don't: commit adultery, steal, cheat, kill, lie, embrace greed, think or say bad things about others, or deliberately disobey commandments of God. A person who is sanctified, purified by their faith, works, and the grace of Christ's atonement is a person who loves their neighbor as themselves.

I'm not a saint yet. I am striving to be, and I know that through Christ's redeeming love I can work at it and get there someday, and be able to live with God, forever. I know that if we do the things that saints would do, we can become saints - practice is the best recipe for success.