The Christian life is all about the pursuit of maturity in Christ. At times, by God's grace, we experience significant growth in faithfulness. But not always. Sometimes, we seem to make almost no progress at all. We've all experienced the frustration of battling besetting sins, and

perhaps there have even been times when we have drifted away from Christlikeness rather than growing more like him.

What causes these significant variations in our progress towards greater Christian maturity? Do we just put it down to God's providence and our sinfulness, or is there more to it than that? And crucially, what can we do about it?