In my quiet time today, I was struck by this verse: "Lord...all that we have accomplished you have done for us." (Isaiah 26:12) Whatever good I do in this world, in fact, I don't do. Good is so foreign to my nature that if I do it, it's God doing it through me.
This reminds me of something that some of us on Twitter were discussing yesterday, Jesus' words in John 15:5: "I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."
As a disciple of Jesus, my call is to recognize that, in Luther's phrase, "we are all beggars": I'm a person saved by grace who only does good things insofar as Christ, through Spirit-given daily repentance and renewal, lives in me.
The phrase "proud Christian" is an oxymoron.
Lord, destroy my pride and help me to live in and for you alone. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen
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