Recently, during Bible study, I heard the process of the Christian life explained in the most reassuring way. I've always struggled with understanding the stages of justification, sanctification, and glorification - or even with the idea of the stages.
As I often tend to do when I need a laymen's explanation of something during Bible study, I checked Got Questions. This was the answer:
"As Christians, we were justified when we confessed Christ and believed (Romans 10:9), we are sanctified as we grow in holiness through the work of the Spirit (Ephesians 4:11–32; Galatians 5:16–24), and we will someday be glorified when we are resurrected into eternal life (Colossians 3:4). Justification is a one-time event, sanctification is a process, and glorification is a future event." (Got Questions) [my emphasis]
Isn't that a beautiful and concise answer?
When my niece died, she had just become a believer. While I was so happy that she had come to Christ before her life here ended at such a young age (36), I spent time thinking about my personal grief. Something I'd heard once long ago, made that grief more bearable. I hope you are as glad as I am to know that:
"The Scriptures speak of being saved in three tenses and senses. In one place the scriptures say that we "have been saved" (past). In another place they say that we "are being saved" (present). In yet another place they say that we "shall be saved" (future)." (from Simply Bible) [my emphasis]
I just wanted to share this with you. I found it instructive and encouraging. Please make sure the read the sources in their entirety.
Peace
--Free
