As we approach the close of another year and begin to anticipate what is to come in the new year, it is natural to assess where we have been and where we are going. But with this evaluation often comes the frustration in the realization that we have so often failed to be and act as we wish had, both in the past year and even in the years previous. The Apostle Paul was intimately aware of this frustration as he described in Romans 7:15. So as we anticipate the challenge as believers to be what we so often fail to be, what are we to do? Paul addresses this directly in Philippians 2:12,13, offering a challenge which we should all consider as we strive to be more and more like Jesus. And offering hope that reminds us that we are not the sum of our past and can find hope in the future, even in the gap between who we are and who we wish to be.
