[4고급] Why Do You Think You Can Do Better?  

Why Do You Think You Can Do Better? 
Esther Liu May 22, 2025 




"Why do you think you can do better?" It was an honest question posed to  me by my mentor. I suppose it had the potential to be off-putting or  offensive, but it wasn't. I instantly knew what he meant. And as much as  the question knocked me off-balance, I knew he was onto something  important.

There is a common response when it comes to facing sin  and failure: "Do better." If we are discontent with our performance? Do  better. Unhappy with our lack of spiritual progress? Do better. Stuck  in addiction or bad habits? Always late? Disappointing your spouse?  Lackluster performance at work? "I need to do better." If there are  failures and shortcomings, then the most plausible formulaic response is  to do better.

Still, the question caught me off guard. My mentor  didn't nod his head and agree with my most recent iteration of "I need  to do better." Instead, he confronted it in love. He captured the  reality of the Christian life—change is not easy. At times, it is  seemingly impossible. If it does happen, it is often slow. Very slow. We  may want to change, we may resolve to do better, but I suspect many of  us have experienced that it's often not that simple. Perhaps the way of  wisdom is not to keep fighting reality, living in the delusion that I  can do better when my track record tells me otherwise.

That  doesn't mean I do not have the Spirit at work in me, growing me,  empowering me—I do. It means that perhaps he does not work in the way or  timing that I often prescribe for myself, so these resolutions to "do  better" are not transpiring in the way I wanted.

But if we are unable to do better, what then?

My mentor's next words were "We will commit to praying about it."

When  we make a commitment to pray for change, we acknowledge that change is  hard and slow, that our current tendencies are harder to shake off than  we'd like to admit, that we tend to be slow learners and growers. We  acknowledge that we need help and wisdom from outside of ourselves to  make progress in the ways needed to make our lives, relationships, and  work flourish. We acknowledge that it will not be by sheer willpower and  determination but by the very Spirit of the living God who will pave a  fruitful path forward for us and for those we love.

When we make a  commitment to pray for change, we place ourselves in the rightful  posture of desperate dependence on the One who can make things right,  good, and beautiful—beyond what we could even ask for or imagine with  our limited resources and narrow perspectives. We are brought back to  the realities of the gospel—that we cannot save ourselves, that we need a  Savior, and that our Savior has come. He came to live, die, and live  again so that these places of "do better" can be infused with hope  despite our inability and repeatedly failed resolutions. We are brought  back to the reality so beautifully captured by John Newton—it is grace  that has brought us this far and grace that will lead us home.

Are  there areas of your life today where you are trying to "do better"? May  I ask gently, why do you think you can do better? And when resolve  fails and change is hard to come by, will you commit to praying, maybe  even with others?

 

 

*학습방법* 1.읽기: [읽고쓰기] 내용을 의미어구에 따라 끊어서 쓰고 어구번호 붙이기 2.듣기: [듣고말하기] 내용을 듣고 의미어구 단위로 끊어서 따라 말하기

3.쓰기:[바꿔쓰기] 내용을 보면서 옆에 /표시하고 의미를 바꿔서 쓰기 4.말하기: [바꿔말하기] 내용을 듣고 의미어구 단위로 바꿔서 말하기 {어구번호: 주어구1, 술보어구2, 목적어구3, 부사구4, 분사구5, 관계사구6}