Training Vs Trying

I often find myself trying to make myself into a better person. I try to have kind thoughts. I try to always say things that are pleasing to God. I try to be more disciplined in my quiet time, my exercise, my health, my work, etc. I try and try and try to be a better person.

You know what? I can never seem to make myself the person that I want to be. I stumble. I mess up. I give up. I do things and say things and think things that I don't WANT to. But I do. And it is frustrating; to try and try and try and never make any progress in becoming the person that you want yourself to be.

Wanna know what I'm learning? And not quickly, easily learning, but learning nonetheless. I'm learning that I can try and try and try, but WITHOUT GOD, I AM NOTHING. Without HIM, I'm NEVER going to be that "better" person that I'm trying so hard to be. Why? Why, if I'm TRYING so hard, why can't I be that person? It's because, unless we give ourselves COMPLETELY to God, we will always be incomplete. As humans, we can't purify the heart and better the spirit, which in turn, makes a better person. That's God's job; not mine. That's God's job; not some "self-help" expert who writes down all of life's secrets in the pages of a book. We have to allow God to take over and teach us discipline. We have to get into His Word and read about how to have a pure heart and pure mind; for from a pure heart and mine come pure words and thoughts. In turn, through God, we become a better person. The person we've been trying so hard to be.

In Sunday School this past week, we talked about training vs. trying. One thing that was said that stuck with me is this: You don't wake up one morning, decide that you'll run a marathon, and do it that afternoon. You have to train to run a marathon. The process is not a fast one. You can't run the distance that you need to run to complete a marathon the moment you decide to do it.

The same goes towards being the type of Christian God wants us to be; the "better" person we try to be. As much as we'd like to, you can't wake up one morning and decide that you'll be a better Christian and expect for it to happen just like that. We all have things that we struggle with that keep us from being the Christian we know we should be. Maybe it's a vocabulary that's not pleasing to God. Maybe it's a gossiping tongue. Maybe it's a negative attitude towards everything in life that's keeping you from seeing God's blessings. Whatever your struggle may be, you can't expect those to disappear in a second.

You have to train. You have to pray for and allow God to change you spiritually. We as humans can't do it alone. We must have God to help us and we have to train daily to be that better person, a person who is truly Christlike in everything you say and do.

"For in Him we live and move and have our being..." Acts 17:28

That verse is not "for in our own selves we live and move and have our being..."

It's only through Christ that we truly live.

I'm learning to give up on trying and take up training with God, in order that I may truly live.

Without Him, I'm Completely Incomplete.