When Trying Doesn’t Work

November 10th, 2025

Deuteronomy 9:1-6.

The goal of life is not to make my list of sins shorter than your list of sins. It’s not to compare me to you. The goal is to be like Jesus. Quite frankly, that’s a pretty tough comparison.

Many people think, “All I have to do is clean up my life and then all will be well. I need to stop being angry, and start being nice and all will be well. Or, “I need to stop doing the bad stuff and start doing the good stuff and I will (literally) be good to go.”

Holy living is more than trying to live a holy day, then another holy day, and then pretty soon, maybe, we’ve strung together a holy week. If we can live one holy week, maybe we can string together another and another. Then bada-boom-bada-bing . . . we are holy.

The problem is simply this: It doesn’t work that way. We can’t do it. The prophet Isaiah claimed that our best efforts are but “filthy rags” compared to God Almighty’s righteousness. In other words, we can’t clean ourselves up enough. To be like Jesus, we need the infilling and empowering work of the Holy Spirit.

Author: Rob Prince