God does not simply remove our ugly character traits!

(J.R. Miller, "Help for the Day")

"Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose." Philippians 2:12-13

Each one's battle must be a personal one. No one can reach the summit, without climbing the steep mountain path. We cannot be borne up on another's strong shoulder. No one can carry us up.

God does not simply put beautiful Christian graces into our lives, as the jeweler sets gems in a coronet. God does not simply remove our ugly character traits — and replace them by lovely ones. Each Christian must persevere through trials, troubles and temptations — to all noble spiritual attainments. While God works in us — we are to work out our own salvation.

"To this end I labor, struggling with all His energy, which so powerfully works in me!" Colossians 1:29

"He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be My son!" Revelation 21:7