Justification is a binary state—you are either justified or you are not—but sanctification is by degrees. You are justified all at once, but you are sanctified line upon line. Justification is a question of whether you are reconciled to all you know. Sanctification is a question of how much you know. You must be justified to be sanctified to any degree.
Sanctification is the process of obtaining greater degrees of eternal life1 by learning more about2 and becoming more like God.3 We grow proportional to the degree of heed and diligence we exercise in obtaining more information4 about God while living up to everything we already know.5 As you make every reasonable attempt to learn more about the character of God and as you are completely obedient to your present understanding, God will teach you more about himself.6 You draw nearer to Christ incrementally as you follow his incrementally revealed example.7
Finding out more about how Jesus is begins by living as you believe he would given what you already understand about him.8 If you live according to your present understanding of how Jesus is,9 he will teach you more about himself.10 As you consistently live up to what you believe Jesus would think, feel, and do in your place, he will reveal to you more about how he is.11 As long as you remain consistent in fully following his example, you will continue in the process of refinement, incrementally increasing in your similitude to Jesus.12
You will learn more about God line upon line as you live up to what you already know.13 The path to God is a path of correction. In each step, you learn that God would think, feel, or act differently than you if he were in your place. You implement the suggested improvement, and the cycle repeats with some new lesson. When the rich young ruler asked Jesus what he needed to do to be saved, Jesus responded by telling him what he would do differently if he were in his place.14 The next step in the gospel is always the next thing you know but do not do. How fast and far you progress in the development of your character will depend solely on your ability to focus fully on the changes he has already suggested to you: ways you think, feel, or act that don’t match your current understanding of what is best. As you fill your life with the light God has already revealed to you, greater knowledge about God will come to you daily like dew on the morning grass.15
Maintaining your relationship with God requires more than just maintaining your obedience to what he has already revealed to you.
Your relationship with God is always either growing or decaying. It will never be the case that one living up to their beliefs will remain stagnant over time.16 God always sends the next increment of truth to those who live up to what they have.17
Footnotes
- 1. Yea, I say unto you come and fear not, and lay aside every sin, which easily doth beset you, which doth bind you down to destruction, yea, come and go forth, and show unto your God that ye are willing to repent of your sins and enter into a covenant with him to keep his commandments, and witness it unto him this day by going into the waters of baptism. And whosoever doeth this, and keepeth the commandments of God from thenceforth, the same will remember that I say unto him, yea, he will remember that I have said unto him, he shall have eternal life, according to the testimony of the Holy Spirit, which testifieth in me. (Alma 7:15-16) ↩
- 2. ...press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life. (2 Nephi 31:20) ↩
- 3. And unto him that repenteth and sanctifieth himself before the Lord shall be given eternal life. (D&C 133:62) ↩
- 4. ...It is given unto many to know the mysteries of God; nevertheless they are laid under a strict command that they shall not impart only according to the portion of his word which he doth grant unto the children of men, according to the heed and diligence which they give unto him. And therefore, he that will harden his heart, the same receiveth the lesser portion of the word; and he that will not harden his heart, to him is given the greater portion of the word, until it is given unto him to know the mysteries of God until he know them in full. (Alma 12:9-10) ↩
- 5. And if a person gains more knowledge and intelligence in this life through his diligence and obedience than another, he will have so much the advantage in the world to come (D&C 130:19) ↩
- 6. For if you keep my commandments you shall receive of his fulness, and be glorified in me as I am in the Father; therefore, I say unto you, you shall receive grace for grace. (D&C 93:20) And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace. (John 1:16) Wherefore, my beloved brethren, reconcile yourselves to the will of God, and not to the will of the devil and the flesh; and remember, after ye are reconciled unto God, that it is only in and through the grace of God that ye are saved. (2 Nephi 10:24) And thus we see that the commandments of God must be fulfilled. And if it so be that the children of men keep the commandments of God he doth nourish them, and strengthen them, and provide means whereby they can accomplish the thing which he has commanded them; wherefore, he did provide means for us while we did sojourn in the wilderness. (1 Nephi 17:3) Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God. (Moroni 10:32) ↩
- 7. For these reasons I implore you, brethren, that you continuously offer yourselves as an evermore holy sacrifice to God, increasingly reconciled to God’s increasingly revealed word, by the mercies of God. And be not changed to be more like this world, but be changed to be more like God, through improved reason and understanding, through searching and learning what is of the greatest worth and benefit, towards the complete stature of God. (2 Thessalonians 12:1-2, Author’s Reflection) ↩
- 8. The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant. (Psalms 25:14) ↩
- 9. Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. (1 John 4:17) ↩
- 10. Continuously one with God through obedience to how we imagine him to be, as our belief yields to firsthand experience with him, until we become a perfected man, filled with the complete character of Christ. (Ephesians 4:13, Author’s Reflection) ↩
- 11. But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. (Proverbs 4:18) ↩
- 12. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. (1 John 3:2-3) ↩
- 13. And no man receiveth a fulness unless he keepeth his commandments. He that keepeth his commandments receiveth truth and light, until he is glorified in truth and knoweth all things. (D&C 93:27-28) ↩
- 14. And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet? Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me. But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions. (Matthew 19:16-22) ↩
- 15. 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) ↩
- 16. ...there are many who observe not to keep my commandments. But unto him that keepeth my commandments I will give the mysteries of my kingdom, and the same shall be in him a well of living water, springing up unto everlasting life. (D&C 63:22-23) Do ye not remember the things which the Lord hath said?—If ye will not harden your hearts, and ask me in faith, believing that ye shall receive, with diligence in keeping my commandments, surely these things shall be made known unto you. (1 Nephi 15:11) ↩
- 17. And he said unto them, Take heed what ye hear: with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you: and unto you that hear shall more be given (Mark 4:24) ↩