2020 has been a year of hard knocks. I don’t care who you are, but I don’t think anyone had an easy year. Some are jobless, some are mourning the loss of loved ones, and some are living in day-to-day fear, loneliness, and frustration. It was a year of missed plans, disappointment, and cancelled travels. It might seem, as we approach Thanksgiving, that there is not much to be thankful for. Instead, we may want to hide in our homes, order in, and shake our fists at God for all the things that aren’t going for us.

2020 has been a major year for me in learning to tame my tongue. It started earlier this year when my manager at work started calling me out for speaking harshly on the phone. And maybe I knew it was true, but I didn’t realize how deep my problem ran. I mean, everyone does it at one time or another. I always had an excuse.

No matter how long you’ve been a Christian– whether you’re on day one or decades from the starting line– everyone that has ever followed Jesus is unified by at least this fact: none of us have ever graduated from the point of salvation. Because no matter how long your spiritual resume is, it is unavoidable that you will struggle with your own tendency towards sin until the day you die. Maybe that’s blunt or depressing, but it’s true. There will never be a point in this life where you will be able to think, “Well, that’s it. I’ve done it. I’ve obtained a wholly righteous and upright lifestyle. I will no longer struggle with sin.”