Step 6. Sanctification.

Blessed are the pure in heart,

for they shall see God.

Matt. 5:8

Short Version

We came to find true and lasting happiness by taking this sixth step:

As God continues to change and purify my heart^A by enabling me to overcome my sins^B, throughout this life he will continue to reveal more and more of himself to me^C and he assures me that I shall see God as he is in the life to come^D.

^A Acts 15:9. Heb. 9:14.   ^B Col 3:5-10.   ^C 2Cor. 4:6. 1Pet. 1:8. Heb. 11:27.   ^D 1Jn. 3:2. 1Jn. 3:2.

Longer Version

We came to find true and lasting happiness by taking this sixth step:

Now that I am in Christ, I am new creation. The old has passed away and the new has come^A, for I have died and my life is now hidden with Christ in God^B. Since I have been crucified with Christ, it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.  And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God,  who loved me and  gave himself for me^C. The law of Christ, which he kept perfectly from the heart, God has put on my heart and written on my mind^D. Therefore I will keep my heart with all vigilance, for  from it flow  the springs of life^E. I will live to put off my old self, which belongs to my former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires^F, by grieving with heartfelt sorrow that I have offended God by my sin, and more and more learn to hate it and flee from it^G. I now seek to be renewed in the spirit of my mind, by Christ’s Word and Spirit, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness^H. Although I will never be perfectly obedient in this life, God will enable me more and more to die to sin and live in obedience to Christ. As I do so, I will see God more clearly in this life^J and in the age to come I shall him as he is^K and spend eternity seeing more and more of the infinitely glorious God^L.

^A 2Cor. 5:17.   ^B Col. 3:3.   ^C Gal. 2:20.   ^D Heb. 10:16   ^E Prov. 4:23.   ^F Eph. 4:22.   ^G HeidelbergCatechism Answer 89. Rom 6:1-11; 1 Cor 5:7; 2 Cor 5:17. Rom 8:13. Col 3:5-10.   ^H Eph 4:23-24. Rom 12:2. ^I Shorter Catechism A. 35. 2 Cor. 7:1, 1 Pet. 2:24.   ^J 2Cor. 4:6. 1Pet. 1:8. Heb. 11:27.   ^K 1Jn. 3:2.   ^L John 17:24.