Sanctification
Sanctification is the process of becoming holier through learning more about God while continuing to live all we know. To be sanctified is to gain more of the joy, knowledge, beliefs, power, and glory of God. Sanctification requires learning more about Jesus than you knew before. Justification requires sacrificing what cannot remain, but sanctification requires becoming better than you were before.
Sanctification is the process of iteratively obtaining a better understanding of God while applying that understanding to your life. This is a cyclic process that consists of:372
- Learning more about God’s character.
- Consummately applying what you understand about God’s character in your life.
- Repeating this process as God teaches you more about himself.
Sanctification is the process of learning more while remaining reconciled to what you learn. Sanctification occurs as you maintain complete conformance to the will of God in thoughts, words, deeds, desires, and character as you are exposed to greater challenges in life. There will always be more to know about God, and each increment of learning brings an opportunity to live what you have learned or turn away from it. You choose whether to remain reconciled to God or not. Those who choose to remain reconciled to God as they learn more about him remain justified and become more sanctified.
Footnotes
- 1. Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace. (Psalms 37:37) Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. (John 14:27) ↩
- 2. Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill? He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart. (Psalm 15:1-2) Let thy bowels also be full of charity towards all men, and to the household of faith, and let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God; and the doctrine of the priesthood shall distil upon thy soul as the dews from heaven (D&C 121:45) ↩
- 3. Whoever walks blamelessly will be saved, But he who is perverse in his ways will suddenly fall. (Proverbs 28:18, NKJV) The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil; He shall dwell on high: his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure. (Isaiah 33:14-16) ↩
- 4. For the Lord God is a sun and shield: the Lord will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly. (Psalms 84:11) ↩
- 5. For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do. (2 Nephi 25:23) ↩
- 6. ...But there is a possibility that man may fall from grace and depart from the living God; (D&C 20:31-32) And now, verily I say unto you, I, the Lord, will not lay any sin to your charge; go your ways and sin no more; but unto that soul who sinneth shall the former sins return, saith the Lord your God (D&C 82:7) ↩
- 7. For I the Lord cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance; (D&C 1:31) ↩