restore us once more into the image of His Son, Jesus Christ. Our Biggest Mistake The mistake we often make at this point is to look at the model and say, "That's what I want. That's the way I want to live. That's the way I want to be. I hate myself when I get angry and lose my temper. I hate myself when I fly off and say ugly things to people. I hate myself when I stumble and go after the flesh. So I'm just not going to do that anymore." We see the ideal and understand what God intended for us to be, and in our heart we desire to live a life of love and purity, righteousness, truth, and peace. But then somehow we imagine we can achieve that goal by sheer effort and brute resolve. Yet the mere desire to be like Jesus doesn't itself create the reality. It doesn't enable us to realize our goal. We do not become like Christ by imitation, which is where a lot of people go awry. Jesus once said to Peter after he had failed yet again, "The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak" (Matthew 26:41). I am certain that all of us have found this to be true in our own experience. We don't lack desire; it isn't that our spirit is unwilling. The problem is that our flesh is weak. That's why mere imitation will never work. We can try to be like the little engine chugging up the hill that kept saying, "I think I can, I think I can, I think
restore us once more into the image of His Son, Jesus Christ. Our Biggest Mistake The mistake we often make at this point is to look at the model and say, "That's what I want. That's the way I want to live. That's the way I want to be. I hate myself when I get angry and lose my temper. I hate myself when I fly off and say ugly things to people. I hate myself when I stumble and go after the flesh. So I'm just not going to do that anymore." We see the ideal and understand what God intended for us to be, and in our heart we desire to live a life of love and purity, righteousness, truth, and peace. But then somehow we imagine we can achieve that goal by sheer effort and brute resolve. Yet the mere desire to be like Jesus doesn't itself create the reality. It doesn't enable us to realize our goal. We do not become like Christ by imitation, which is where a lot of people go awry. Jesus once said to Peter after he had failed yet again, "The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak" (Matthew 26:41). I am certain that all of us have found this to be true in our own experience. We don't lack desire; it isn't that our spirit is unwilling. The problem is that our flesh is weak. That's why mere imitation will never work. We can try to be like the little engine chugging up the hill that kept saying, "I think I can, I think I can, I think