Anfechtung 4 ... everything does not gleam and sparkle, but everything is being cleaned.

At this point, the parables of the gospel shed light on the problem. First, the one about the Samaritan [Luke 10:29–37] who placed the half-dead man on his beast, poured wine and oil into his wounds and asked the innkeeper to take care of him. He did not straightway cure him altogether. Similarly, we too are not entirely cured by baptism or repentance, but a beginning is made in us and the bandage of the first grace binds our wounds so that our healing may proceed from day to day until we are cured. For this reason, St. James says in James 1[:18], “God has given us birth through his word, out of his sheer gracious will, without our merit, that we should be a first fruit of his work or creatures.” This is as if to say, “So long as we live here on earth, believing in his word, we are a work that God has begun, but not yet completed; but after death we shall be perfect, a divine work without sin or fault.”
The second parable is written in Matt. 13[:33]. It tells of the leaven which the woman mixes in three measures of meal until it is thoroughly leavened. The new leaven is the faith and grace of the Spirit. It does not leaven the whole lump at once but gently, and gradually, we become like this new leaven and eventually, a bread of God. This life, therefore, is not godliness but the process of becoming godly, not health but getting well, not being but becoming, not rest but exercise. We are not now what we shall be, but we are on the way. The process is not yet finished, but it is actively going on. This is not the goal but it is the right road. At present, everything does not gleam and sparkle, but everything is being cleansed.
To bring the matter to a conclusion, the Lord’s Prayer alone is enough to show that all of us are still sinners, for all the saints must also pray, “Hallowed be thy name, thy will be done, thy kingdom come,” etc. Here they actually confess that they do not now adequately hallow God’s name; nevertheless they could not even offer this prayer if the Spirit had not already begun to hallow this name. Thus they confess that they do not yet fulfil the will of God and yet they could not pray this petition had they not already begun to fulfil it. For those who have not made a beginning care nothing about the name and will of God, pray for nothing, and show no interest. Nor can it be said that in these petitions the saints pray only over their past sins and not their present and remaining sins. For there is a special Petition in the Lord’s Prayer that deals with past sins which says, “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.” These other Petitions, however, obviously refer to the other sins which are now present. For this reason, they ask that in the future God’s name be honored, the divine will be obeyed, and the kingdom of God be attained. These are the prayers of men who are still partly in the kingdom of the devil, partly disobedient, and partly guilty of dishonoring the name of God.

Career of the Reformer II.
(Luther's Works 32), S. 32:24