The Sum of the Christian Life

"It is exceedingly difficult to get into another habit of thinking in which we clearly separate faith and [works of] love…. Even though we are in faith … the heart is always ready to boast of itself before God and say: "After all, I have preached so long and lived so well and done so much, surely he will take this into account."  But it cannot be done.  With men you may boast … But when you come before God, leave all that boasting at home and remember to appeal from justice to grace.  [But] let anyone try this and he will see and experience how exceedingly hard and bitter it is for a man, who all his life has been mired in his work righteousness, to pull himself out of it and with all his heart rise up through faith in the one Mediator. 

            I myself have been preaching and cultivating it (grace) for almost twenty years and still I feel the old clinging dirt of wanting to deal so with God that I may contribute something, so that he will have to give me his grace in exchange for my holiness.  Still I cannot get it into my head that I should surrender myself completely to sheer grace; yet [I know that] this is what I should and must do"

-Martin Luther