Like this:

“if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” – 1 john 1:8-9

i am constantly being frustrated between wanting to be good and failing to do so. every time i reach a place where i feel like i’ve made something of myself, that i can finally be pleasing to God, i get humbled again. justification vs. sanctification. this is probably the hardest thing for me about christianity, grappling between the call to please God and the insufficiency of my own will. thank God for grace.

“for this is the will of God, your sanctification” (1 thes. 4:3), “and this is the confidence that we have toward Him, that if we ask anything according to His will He hears us. and if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of Him” (1 john 5:14-15). sometimes it’s amazing to me that God wills for our sanctification. i don’t know why that should surprise me, but it does. amazing grace!

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