Accepted Through Christ It is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory. (2 Corinthians 1:20) Even the good works we bring to God are in themselves defective, both in motive and performance. It is virtually impossible to purge our motives completely of pride and self-gratification. And we can never perfectly perform those good works. The best we can do falls short of what God requires, but the truth is, we never actually do the best we can, let alone what would meet God’s perfect standard. That is why Peter wrote, “You yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:5). Our best works are acceptable to God only because they are made acceptable by the merit of Jesus Christ. But God does accept them through Christ; He accepts them on the basis of His grace. Ernest Kevan quoted one of the Puritans on the imperfection of our works as follows: “We do not do all that is commanded but come short of our duty, and that which we do is imperfect and defective in respect of manner and measure; and therefore in justice deserves punishment, rather than reward: and consequently the reward, when it is given, is to be ascribed to God’s undeserved mercy and not to our merit.” So the entire Christian life is a life lived under grace from first to last, from beginning to end, all “to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves” (Ephesians 1:6).