It's only by cracking our very nature that God is able to even begin to make us vessels for His living word. We are called to be crucified with Christ. When I was younger and struggling hard with that concept, I asked a saintly, elderly woman, "Why, if my old nature has been crucified with Christ, does it continue to keep on wiggling?"

She smiled and said in a quiet voice, "You must remember, Tim, that crucifixion is a slow death."