You might have heard the phrase "the now and the not yet" or something along those lines, perhaps during a Bible study or sermon. It's often a helpful way to categorise the difference between our status and our experience as Christians. Which is, in some ways, one of the most frustrating aspects of the Christian life - that though we are justified, we are not yet glorified (although we are being sanctified). What justification means is that God sees the Christian as he sees Christ - perfect, sinless, spotless, righteous. And of course, in that legal sense, we do have a new status before God. In his eyes justified people have shifted categories from "sinner under condemnation" to "saint, no longer under condemnation". As complete and perfect as he intended us to be. That truth can be frustrating, however, in the sense that it doesn't fully match up to our current Christian experience (yet). Our status and our experience are often at od