Wouldn’t it have been nice if everything about us changed automatically at the moment of our conversion? That all our hang ups disappeared? All our anxieties gone? All our habits changed?

But there is nothing automatic about the transformation. It takes work. It is trial and error over and over and over… Sometimes the sanctification (becoming holy) is so slow we wonder if we are saved at all!

The Jews who witnessed the resurrection of Jesus Christ and even performed spectacular miracles still struggled with racism and prejudice. Peter hesitated in going into a gentile’s house (It was taboo for a Jews to do so). And the Christian Jews criticized him sharply when they found out. They still thought that salvation was only for the Jews when Jesus clearly told them to go into ALL THE NATIONS and make disciples of them all.

So, our old habits don’t die easily. Our prejudices won’t go away easily. We must kill it over and over and over. And therein lies the battle. And therein lies the growth! It is in exercising our spiritual muscles battling our old sins that we grow. And it’s also a sign of life so! It is those who don’t fight who are dead.

Are you fighting your old habits? Are you struggling to be better and do better for the Lord? Keep wrestling. It’s a sign you are alive spiritually.

Hopefully,

PH