Rely On What Is True

"But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose." - Galatians 2: 17-21

This verse in Galatians gives me a joy and assurance that I cannot adequately describe. To be confident that even though I sin, I am still redeemed is amazing! I have hope knowing that the law of sin no longer has power over me. I might lose hope if I thought that it was up to me to continue this walk of faith, but this verse tells us that, "It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me". We are justified in Christ...forever! Now we need to "rely" on that truth.

Reliance

My Father, When thou art angry towards me for my wrongs I try to pacify thee by abstaining from future sin; But teach me that cannot satisfy thy law, that this effort is a resting in my righteousness, that only Christ's righteousness, ready made, already finished, is fit for that purpose; that thy chastising me for my sin is not that I should try to reform, but only that I may be more humbled, afflicted, and separated from sin, by being reconciled, and made righteous in Christ by faith; that a sense of my sufficiency and ability in him is one means of my being immovable; that I can never be so by resting on my own faith, but by trusting in thee as my only support, by faith; that if I cast away my faith I cast away thee, for by faith I apprehend thee, and as thou art very precious, so is my faith very precious to me; that I fall short of the purity thou requirest, because in thinking I am holy I do not seek holiness, or, believing I am impotent, I do no more. Humble me for not being as holy as I should be, or as holy as I might be through Christ, for thou art all, and to possess thee is to possess all. But to make the creature something is to make it stand between thee and me, so that I do not walk humbly and holily. Lord, forgive me for this.

~The Valley Of Vision~