Shaping Our Souls

Making progress in living holy lives is a constant struggle in the Christian life. Though it is the thing that we want, what God wants, it is one of the most difficult things that we strive for. In Teresa of Avila's devotional she says,
"Whereas before the soul was somewhat deaf and blind an had no will to resist, now it has begun to hear and see and resist as one who is about to gain victory."
This part really clicked with me. When we first become Christians we feel invincible (at least I certainly did!). But the more we grow, the more we see our sin. We see the ways that Satan traps us. We see the depth of our sinfulness and the depth of God's glory, and don't feel so invincible anymore. We see the real struggle that our soul is battling.
She later talks about habits and Satan. Satan thrives on our bad habits, and tries even harder to prevent us from having good habits. Satan will try to lure is in to acts of sin. And if he can make it a habit, even better. In order for our soul to be developing Godly habits within us, we have to be aware of this. Know that Satan is coming at us from different angles. If one lure works, he'll try it again. If one lure doesn't work, he'll try another way. Making progress in a way seems to put a larger target on Christians--a target that we should gladly bear.
She also says, "We are free in the same measure that we are able to suffer." The choice is ours. We are free in Christ, not bound by our sins.
A few suggestions that she has are to be in prayer about the battle within our souls and have a mentor or an accountability partner that you trust and feel comfortable discussing this with. We won't grow unless we are making an effort in this! It won't always be easy, yes we will fall. But following the example of Christ who bore the cross and suffered for us, we will get back up again and continue pursuing holiness. Giving up isn't an option, we've already begun.