We aren’t born again to stay the way we are. But how many times have we looked around us in dis­may at the lack of spir­i­tu­al matu­ri­ty in fel­low believ­ers, and in us? It is evi­dent in the ris­ing rate of divorces among Chris­t­ian cou­ples. We find it in the high per­cent­ages of Chris­tians who reg­u­lar­ly view pornog­ra­phy. And we face it each time a well-known Chris­t­ian leader is found in sex­u­al sin or han­dling finances dis­hon­est­ly. Per­haps you have strug­gled with your own char­ac­ter issues for years, even decades, to lit­tle avail. You can expe­ri­ence sig­nif­i­cant growth in your Chris­t­ian walk, shed sin­ful habits, and increas­ing­ly take on the char­ac­ter of Christ. In Ren­o­va­tion of the Heart, Dal­las Willard calls it ​“the trans­for­ma­tion of the spir­it” – a divine process that ​“brings every ele­ment in our being, work­ing from inside out, into har­mo­ny with the will of God or the king­dom of God.”

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