I am constantly claiming that I am a work in progress, but I wonder what that progression looks like:
Philippians 1:6 says, "being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."
There has to be some final product that is ultimately being produced. I think this process is called sanctification (being set apart for a purpose), and will ultimately be completed on the day we get to be together with Christ in heaven. Being sanctified to the image and attitude of Christ is a daily battle, which is why it's work. My faith, my attitude, my responses, and reactions are constantly being put to work
in order to produce a better version of myself. The spirit of God is at work
in all of these areas so that I may be sanctified. Some days my flesh works harder than my spirit because I don't take the time to stop and connect with God. Hopefully and prayerfully, these days are becoming more and more sparse, and that my days of being full of the spirit win out over the days being full of my flesh. Galatians 5:16-18, "16So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. 17For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. 18But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law." So, there are ultimately, two contradictory progressions at work in my life. Satan's desire is that I progress towards living and doing things my way, while God's desire is that I progress towards living and doing things in the way of the Spirit.
This is my desire as well: to live by the Spirit. So, the progression should look more like someone who is constantly being worked on, chiseled at, painted over, and molded by God, who claims that we are his workmanship [Eph 2:10]. Progress tells me that tomorrow, I will be better than today.
