“I don’t know what to do,” I told my wife. “I’m not reading my Bible. I’m not spending time in prayer. I feel like a failure!” My wife listened intently. She put her hand on my back, looked me in the eyes, and gently said, “Caleb, you need to go and pray.” The thought of drawing near to God in my weakness hadn’t even occurred to me.
When Christians talk about “conquering sin” or growing in their faith, the prevailing tone is often that of striving with human effort. A person may say “I need to be more disciplined” or “I need to work harder. I need to build my spiritual muscles, to create new habits and stick to them.”
This isn’t altogether wrong. But the Bible tells us sanctification isn’t primarily an act of the will. Instead, it’s rooted in acknowledging our weakness and depending more and more on the Spirit’s power to transform our lives.
