Healthy, growing Christians are those who are increasingly aware of the presence and depth of their own sin. But with this awareness, the Lord designs that we should trust and rejoice all the more in His provision for our sin through the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ. What great, living hope believers have in the One who “…suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring us to God…” (1 Pet. 3:18, ESV).
This great hope is expressed in the following words. (This is a portion of a prayer called The Broken Heart, found in the wonderful volume of Puritan prayers entitled The Valley of Vision. The theme of this prayer has been put to music with the song To the Cross I Cling.)
Blessed Jesus, let me find a covert
in thy appeasing wounds.
Though my sins rise to heaven,
thy merits soar above them;
Though unrighteousness weighs me down to hell,
thy righteousness exalts me to thy throne.
All things in me call for my rejection,
All things in thee plead my acceptance.
I appeal from the throne of perfect justice
to thy throne of boundless grace.
Learning to live at the throne of grace with you,
Greg