Paul made a remarkable change in his life because, after seeing the risen Christ, he dedicated himself to being like Christ. I Corinthians 2:2 says, “For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” Sounds like dedication to me!
If we are ever going to make any head-way and improve in those areas of life where we are weak, we must devote ourselves to being like Paul, who had devoted himself to being like Christ. Nothing short of a total surrender will bring about the desired change.
Andrew Murray has written:
Many of us would love to have sin taken away. Who loves to have a hasty temper? Who loves to have a proud disposition? Who loves to have a worldly heart? No one. You ask Christ to take it away, and He does not do it. Why does He not do it? It is because you wanted Him to take away the ugly fruits while the poisonous roots remained in you. You did not ask that henceforth you might give self entirely to the power of His Spirit. Do you suppose that a painter would want to work out a beautiful picture on a canvas which did not belong to him? No. Yet people want Jesus Christ to take away this tempter or that other sin while as yet they have not yielded themselves completely to His command.
~~Greely Kirkpatrick~~