This time of the year reminds me of my limitations. I become aware of my failed attempts at developing healthy habits and I realize that even the habits I have successfully cultivated haven’t magically transformed me into the person I want to be. Yet I still feel the desire to mature and become more than I am right now!

So, why don’t I? It turns out that I am a mixed mess of motivations and desires. I’m double-minded and self-centered which means I often prefer the path with the highest ratio of pleasure to pain. This underlying reality frequently undermines my attempts to make my life how it “ought to be.”

Personally, my most common response is to resign. I throw up my hands and say, “Ughhhh, see? I can’t change! What’s the point?” At times I also rebel and invest lots of effort into trying to improve myself through sheer force of will. It kinda feels like pushing a boulder up a hill. I can maybe make some progress for a short time, but as I wear out, reality rolls back in and squashes my hope. Can you relate?

But here’s the deal, my helplessness to fix myself is good news! How the heck is this  good news for you and I? It invites me to the place where true hope for real change is found.

The story of the rich young ruler in Luke 18:18-30 brings this all together. The disciples watch a highly qualified man with loads of willpower walk away from Jesus because he’d encountered his limitations. Even the best of us are double minded and self-centered. At the end of the day, none of us can fully renovate our own soul.

Jesus says that it’s impossible for even the best of the best to get into heaven, which shocks the disciples. They cry out, “Then who can be saved?!” Jesus answers with the truly good news. “What is impossible with man is possible with God.”

God gives change, growth, and true life. He doesn’t require it he does it. He is the real change agent in our lives. Jesus is tending to my growth, he is leading me gently through dark valleys and into wide places. He knows what I need to learn and experience in order to grow. All he asks of me is that I trust him.

“Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely. And may your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will do it.” 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24