Dr. Charles Stanley has said that "Wisdom is seeing things from God's perspective".  The problem is that life has taught us to see things from our own, limited perspective (and that can be quite different from how God sees things).  So the question becomes: How can we change the way we see things - from how the "world" wants us to see things to the way God wants us to see things?  The answer is a spiritual process called Reconciliation.  This spiritual process is different from bank account reconciliation in that, with bank account reconciliation, it is possible for the bank to make a mistake.  With spiritual reconciliation, however, it is impossible for God to make a mistake.  Therefore, the mistakes and their associated "adjustments" are all on our side of the ledger sheet.

Recognition

The first phase of Reconciliation involves recognizing a few facts:

1. We are not at peace with our fellow man/woman (because we are not at peace with ourselves).
2. We are not at peace with ourselves (because we are not at peace with God).
3. We are not at peace with God (because of sin-induced disbelief).  Make no mistake about it: you and I do not have "intellectual problems" with the Bible (once we actually read it and understand it).  We either believe or we don't - and unbelief robs us of the blessing of faith - and without faith it is impossible to please God [Romans 11:6].
4. Jesus is the Christ, Son of the Living God and I am not.

Reconciliation

The next phase of Reconciliation involves the following detailed steps:

1. Learn enough about the person and practices of Jesus to know that He is the Christ, Son of the Living God.  If you are not yet convinced, you have not learned enough.  But keep at it!  You'll get there.
2. Take every aspect of who Jesus was/is and what He did/is doing and compare each with the corresponding aspect of your life.
3. Write down, with as much detail as possible, the ways that you are different from Jesus Christ.  This is your personal "punch list".  You are a mirror with gunk on it that is keeping you from reflecting the glory of God; and your "punch list" is the gunk.
4. One-by-one, for each item on your "punch list" go through the following steps:
• Ask yourself "Why am I persisting in this behaviour?".
• Ask yourself "What would need to happen for me to gladly let go of whatever keeps me in this pattern of behaviour?".
• Eyes wide open, take a deep breath.  Now choose to give everything associate with your habit of behaving in this way to Jesus as a permanent, unconditional gift to your LORD and Saviour.
• Receive the divine cleansing and washing-away of the stains associated with this persistent pattern of behaviour that sin has left on your soul.  And, as quickly as you truly yield this habit of behaviour to Him, He will begin to live a godly life in you (and you in Him).
• Tell someone what you just did and rejoice in the grace that has been shown to you that has allowed you to take this step toward the one, true God.  And remember: God is never further away than you can push Him.
5. Once you are at peace with God, you can begin the process of coming to terms (and peace) with yourself (the real you) having the correct, eternal perspective on yourself.  This can take a while.  But receiving grace from God sure helps you to show grace to yourself and understand why you do what you do; and even forgive yourself for the fruit of your sinful nature.
6. Once you are at peace with yourself, then (and only then) can you begin to examine your relationships with others with the correct, eternal perspective on both you and the other.  Here again, receiving grace from God helps us to show grace to others.  In fact, to do otherwise is to miss the whole point of what Christ has done for us.

Although it is an attractive notion to think that we merely create a "punch list", knock it out and be done with all rebellion once and for all, this is sadly not the way this works (short of the second coming of Jesus).  In the meanwhile, we must put up with the troublesome "roommate" of our fleshly natures.  That means that the rest of our lives will be a process of Recognition and Reconciliation. 

“[S]ince we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 
through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand” (Romans 5:1,2).

Also be assured that the limits to our perfection are within us and not within Christ.  That is to say that, to the extent that we repent of our sins and live for Christ, we are fulfilling our responsibilities as part of the "body of Christ".  Remember that life separated from Christ is hell, but life "present with the LORD" is heavenly.  We should strive, as we are able to, to remain blameless (not sinless) before the LORD [which is all that He asks].  This is the righteousness of the LORD.

"And this righteousness will bring peace.  Yes, it will bring quietness and confidence forever.". - Isaiah 32:17