“Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord:
though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red like crimson,
they shall become like wool.”
~ Isaiah 1:18
Holiness is a gift,
Righteousness an inheritance.
I yearn for His presence,
Yet I shy from His duties.
I wish to cast off my burdens,
as I add daily to my shackles.
I do what I ought not,
And do not what I ought.
I fear to rest or relax,
For when my guard is laxed —
Sins come in hordes,
Till all left is to mourn.
I am hateful to myself,
A stranger in my own skin.
A sojourner in a cursed body,
A wretched soul in a blameless corpse.
I cannot shoulder the blame,
to a body which cannot think.
I am responsible, I alone;
But my sins too great to atone.
Christ is all I have, pauperish me;
Can you not see it, that He came for thee?
Too great a miracle, sayest thou?
Otherwise to save thyself how?
Canst thou not see it?
The miracle stands before you.
God’s grace is unearned,
God’s grace is infinite,
God’s grace knows no limits of man.
You are forgiven by His blood!
It is not your power not to sin, but His!
Let His will flow through your veins!
To be ever more sin’s eternal bane!
From the City on a Hill 