Martin Luther - GRACE

"With Paul, we absolutely deny the possibility of self merit. God never yet gave to any person grace and everlasting life as a reward for merit...the true way of salvation is this: First, a person must realize that he’s a sinner, the kind of sinner who’s congenitally unable to do any good thing. "Whatsoever is not of faith, is sin." Those who seek to earn the grace of God by their own efforts are trying to please God with sins. They mock God, and provoke His anger. The first step on the way to salvation is to repent." (Martin Luther, Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians)

I want believe that there is another way.
I want to think that I am the exception to the rule.
I grasp at the thought that my righteousness is enough.
I hold to the hope that my behavior satisfies You.
I want to think that you judge me worthy.
It is my evaluation that I am capable of Your standard.
I want to hold onto my assessment that I am not like others,
I can plainly see that they offend Your law.
I get the fact that they fall short of Your glory.
I know very well that they can't stand before you.
But I still want to think that I am not like them.
I want to hold your Word and my righteousness at the same time.
I want to celebrate the Gospel and my worthiness together.
But it is a self-sufficient delusion.
It aggrandizes me and diminishes You.
It minimizes sin and devalues grace.
It asks the law to do what only grace can accomplish.
It denies the daily evidence of my sin.
It ignores the true condition of my heart.
It turns away from the sacrifice that you have made.
It omits the sovereign plan of your grace.
It forgets the desperate condition of my need.
And so I turn to what I know is true.
I am nothing without You.
I accept the invitation of Your grace.
I run to the sacrifice of the cross.
I cry for the help of Your spirit.
I accept the diagnosis of Your Word.
I trust the faithfulness of Your love.
I seek the forgiveness You alone can give.
And I reject the righteousness that is my own.