I want to grow in character. Another way of saying that is, I want to be a better person. I want to be righteous. I want to be holy. I want to sin less. I want to have pure motives. I want to love people as much as Jesus loves me. I want to be as much like Jesus as is possible. The common word in those sentences is the word “want”. The truth is that the stronger the “want” the faster the change and growth in me will be towards Christ likeness. My natural inclination is to ignore character flaws, justify poor choices, blame others for failure, give myself grace when I sin, and compare myself with others. I don’t want my unrighteousness acts to crush me but the right way to experience God’s forgiveness, grace, mercy, and power to change is to acknowledge that I sinned, confess it to God as a violation of His will, repent, grieve over my sin, and then to express with all my heart my desire to be holy. God says “hunger and thirst for righteousness, pursue righteousness, want it, want it, want it, and I will be satisfied. I spend time each day at the end of the day examining my behavior, thinking about my motives, and working hard not to become content with where I am. It is slow going, but I will not give in and relax and accept the view that “I am just human”.