I love the message of grace, the hope of heaven, what the cross represents, the fact that I have a worldwide church family and the constant challenge to become more and more like Jesus in my character (Sorry, Kirk Cameron films don't make my list of "likes").

But it's not all roses.

When we open our hearts to God, our souls are converted, but our flesh is not. I hate this.

No matter how much we love Jesus. No matter how much we pray. Now matter how much Scripture we can quote. It's always going to be a challenge to reflect the character of Christ.

We're always going to experience the tension of forgiving people who don't deserve it.

We're always going to struggle with true generosity.

We're always going to battle lust.

We're always going to want to retaliate when someone hurts us.

We're always going to enjoy gossip.

We're always going to hope our "enemy" doesn't do well.

It's just reality. Our flesh will never be converted. The only thing we can do is tame it and discipline it and control it (1 Corinthians 9:24-27).