I have always liked the message that I saw on a T-shirt years ago—“Be Patient with Me! God Is Not Finished with Me Yet!” We Christians are indeed all works in progress. We never will reach perfection, therefore there is the need to be patient with one another.

However, I have recently had a new thought about that message. Could it be that we use the perfectly respectable request for patience as an excuse for not growing in our faith? Is it possible that we might prefer continually asking for forgiveness over exercising the discipline required to make much-needed changes in our lives?

Maybe it’s not true, but I thought it was worth asking.

“Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress.”—1 Tim.4:15.