Those who receive the call of the Gospel are adopted into the family of the Church. The other benefits of salvation are justification and sanctification. In this short devotion, we are going to look at the differences between justification and sanctification, and their benefit to us. Firstly, let us define our words. Justification is a one-time event in the life of a Christian that declares him/her justified before God. Sanctification is an ongoing work of God’s grace in our lives to produce spiritual fruit and growth.

Justification imputes Christ’s righteousness to us. There is a change of state from lost to saved. In sanctification, there is a change of life. We grow in grace and our lifestyle reflects that change. Another way of saying this is this. Justification is an outward event in which God as a judge removes our guilt and in sanctification, the Holy Spirit works within us to edify, renew and transform us.

Justification is unseen whereas sanctification is seen. The benefits of salvation are spiritual, present and future. As sinners our biggest problem is spiritual. We are outside of salvation and lost in our natural state. The main spiritual blessing in salvation is that we are declared righteous before God. The present blessings of the Gospel are that we have victory and solutions to everyday problems and battles. There are some blessings that we will not experience till we go home to be with the Lord. These are the future blessings of the Gospel. In heaven, we will have all our sinfulness removed and we will see our Saviour face to face.

A life lived to the glory of God is the best life we can live. We have fellowship with the divine and communion with fellow saints in the Lord. We have something that this world can never offer. We have joy, peace and hope in Christ. In salvation we have the greatest gift we can ever receive and know, the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Let us give thanks and praise to God for our salvation. Let us give thanks to God that he came into this world and gave us His Son. May we come to Christ today and thank him for stepping into our lives and saving us from eternal destruction.