Willemina,
You have confused passive and active faith. GOD saves us by grace through faith, and this is NOT of ourselves, it is a gift from God! Our active faith is where our actions come through toward our neighbors, and toward God. We are NOT immediately sanctified, if this were our doctrine then NONE of us would be saved since NONE of us are perfectly holy! It is a scary doctrine to think that we are all perfect, that we cannot sin....because the minute we sin we will call our salvation into question.

Grace is not common.