Twenty-four years after God initially called Abram in Genesis 12, God appeared to him again. God chose unlikely people – the broken and unworthy – but He did not leave them in the same condition they were in when He called them. In salvation, God gives His people a new identity. No longer are they marked by their sin and disobedience but by His righteousness. No longer are they unworthy, but they are fully accepted as His children.

While these truths become effective in the moment of salvation, God gradually works at changing His people in another way as well – experientially. God continues to grow His people and mold them in His image so that they live out their new identity (who they truly are), rather than their old identity (who they were). This process is called sanctification, where we are sanctified – or made holy – to live more as God intends each day.

• How has God changed you since you first trusted in Him? How is He changing you now?