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 I 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.

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