Self-improvement is exhausting.

We try to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps. We use willpower and discipline to force ourselves into being better people. We try to be less angry and more patient.

The Bible offers a different mechanism for change.

"But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory..." 2 Corinthians 3:18

We are not transformed by trying. We are transformed by beholding.

It is a passive transformation, like a person getting a tan. You do not try to get a tan; you simply position yourself under the sun, and the sun does the work. In the same way, when you position yourself under the Son, looking at Jesus and His finished work, you are changed without effort.

You become what you behold.

If you behold your failures, you become more discouraged. If you behold His glory and grace, you become more like Him.

Put down the self-help book and look at Jesus.