Once we are justified by saving faith in Christ, we are sealed by the Holy Spirit, marked with God’s stamp of ownership upon our hearts (Eph. 1:13). We were once a slave to our sin; it ruled us as our master. Yet now God has purchased our pardon and sin’s nature no longer holds us in its death grip. We have traded its burden for freedom in Him as our new Master, and nothing can snatch us out of His hand (John 10:28; Rom. 8:38-39).

Whereas we were previously unable to recognize the difference between right and wrong (holiness and ungodliness) now the Holy Spirit opens our spiritual eyes and awakens us to recognize God’s heart, will, and work in us. The seal of the Holy Spirit is symbolic of a legally binding decree that identifies us as God’s own. This seal provides the security of our salvation and allows us to live in the peace of His hope as we continue to live out this life on this side of heaven.

But we’re not home yet…

Sanctification noun:

sanc·​ti·​fi·ca·​tion

the action of making something holy; the process of being freed from sin or purified

Christian implication ~ sanctification = God makes us holy at the point of salvation and our obedient life to Him perpetuates the process of an ongoing freeing from our lifestyle of sin.

As mentioned, there is an amazing moment of salvation where belief, confession, repentance, redemption, imputation, and justification collide into one eternally significant, life-changing miracle. At that time, God’s justification marks us as holy in His sight and we are filled with the Holy Spirit, sealed for eternity.

With that, it’s important to understand that there are two types of sanctification. One is an instantaneous action taken by God where He sanctifies us as holy in the moment of salvation.

The second is a process. If we have made Jesus Christ the Lord of our lives, we have given Him rule over our hearts, minds, and actions. Over the course of our lifetime, that surrender causes spiritual growth in us as we learn to understand His Word and follow His leading in order to become more Christlike as every Christian is called to do. Scripture promises us that while we remain on earth, this process will continue as we will never reach earthly perfection.

As we stretch and grow in our understanding and obedience to Christ, more of our old self falls away. Through daily decisions to follow Him, our habits change from sinful to Christlike, and our hearts, minds, and attitudes think, feel, and look like the creation He intended us to be.

This is the evidence of personal growth in the Lord. Much of the New Testament was written to churches full of believers who needed guidance on how to continue their lives as growing servants of Christ that would emulate Him. We are no different than the churches receiving those letters, in that we are just as tempted to allow our flesh to rule us rather than running a race that pleases our Lord and ends with, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

Christ sacrificed so much in order to save us from an eternity in hell. Our response should be daily awe accompanied by a desire to thank Him with every moment of our life. Spending time in both His Word and prayer so that we can be an outpouring of His love and gospel message to a lost and dying world is the highest calling of our life.

And then…

Glorification noun:

glor·i·​fi·ca·​tion

There is no earthly definition for this glorification, for it is nothing of this world.

Christian implication ~ glorification = the future, final state of believers where our sins are completely removed, our bodies fully redeemed, and we are transformed into the perfect, incorruptible likeness of Christ in God’s presence.

In the blink of an eye, our sanctification will be complete and our next breath will be a sigh of relief. In this world, believers are promised there will be endless trials and trouble (John 16:33). But time and time again while on the earth, our Savior taught that our eyes are to be fixed on eternity, for when we reach its gates, there will be no more tears, no more pain, no more grief, no more loss. Our faith will be made complete as we meet Him face to face and realize that our lives were never about ourselves, nor the trials we endured, but entirely about the One who gave His life to provide our ultimate rescue and sigh of relief. In that moment, we will see Him as He is and grasp the joy of the opportunity to worship and glorify Him in perfection and gratitude for all eternity.