Sometimes, I have fleeting moments when I think I’ve arrived. I’m at a place where I feel I’ve conquered all my sins and temptations and everything is going great. I do think that I get glimpses of what I will look like when Jesus us done with me, but these moments are usually more along the lines of “look how far I’ve come.” Ever been there?

Have you had a “not yet” moment that immediately follows? You know, where you completely lose your religion (to borrow from and old R.E.M. song) in traffic or get really angry at something insignificant and stupid?

Or maybe you fall to a temptation that hasn’t been a problem for a while?

Or maybe you see some part of your character or your attitude that you hadn’t noticed before and is way less than flattering?

Or maybe you just get detoured into a Plan B when your original plans go awry or fall through?

It’s a kind of “now, but not yet” moment. You’re saved and trusting in Jesus, but you still have quite a bit of the old you hanging around. Somedays, the new you wins; other days, the old you pulls an upset. What do you do and how do you deal with the “not yet” moments?

I’ve learned it’s all about perspective. Yes, you’re not there yet and you’re far from perfect, but you are not who you were either. You may not see it, but God is transforming you and changing you daily in ways that you might not see, but if you get a chance to look at your life from a higher perspective over  a longer period of time, you see it.

Also, you are not those “not yet” moments. You are not the relapses and moral failings and lost tempers. You are what God in Jesus has already declared you to be. Holy, righteous, justified, or “just as  if I’d never sinned.” The real you is all these things. The real you is already as holy and righteous as Jesus. What trips you up is not you, according to Romans 7, but the sin in you.

So yes, it’s tempting to want to give up during a “not yet” moment, or despair of ever getting better. But know those feelings and thoughts are lies and the truth is that Jesus has promised not to quit on you until you’re perfected, a masterpiece that will stand up with any Mona Lisa or Starry Night. You have all of Jesus and He has all of you.

Keep that in mind. And, as Scarlett O’Hara is famous for saying, “Tomorrow is another day!”