A danger I see in my flesh as I walk with God longer is a numbness to my sin. When I came to faith, God cleansed much of the sin that was outward or more obvious in my life. As I continue to walk with God, He continues to convict me of my sin and fleshly motives, but if I’m not paying attention, I can miss it and fall into a false self-righteousness.
The truth of the contrasting ideas in the verses above is: I am a sinful person AND I am forgiven, I need to continually confess my sin AND I have the truth alive in me, God has purified me and He is continually purifying me, He has made me righteous in His sight and I still need to be transformed to become more like Him.
I find that I’m able to hold both contrasting sides easier when I am reminded of the truth from 1 John — God is faithful and just to forgive and purify me. God is doing the work. Even as I do my best to participate with Him, He’s doing the heavy lifting. He is faithful, no matter how faithless I am, and He won’t stop forgiving, purifying, healing.