November 21

His grace, which was bestowed upon me, was not in vain.—1 Corinthians 15:10.

DO I feel that in myself by nature I have no merit or worthiness before God? And if there be any good in me, do I ascribe it entirely to divine grace, acknowledging that it comes only from God? Does this conviction make and keep me humble? Do I prayerfully seek, and endeavor to improve in the grace thus bestowed upon me, that it may not be in vain, either to myself or others?

As John Newton, in his old age, read the expression, "By the grace of God, I am what I am," he paused a moment, and then uttered this affecting soliloquy: "I am not what I ought to be; ah! how imperfect and deficient: not what I wish to be; I abhor that which is evil, and would cleave to that which is good: not what I hope to be: soon I shall put off mortality, and with it all sin and imperfection! But though I am not what I ought to be, or what I wish to be, or what I hope to be, yet I can truly say I am not what I once was, the slave of sin and Satan; and with the apostle I can thankfully say, 'By the grace of God, I am what I am!'"

All that I was, my sin, my guilt,

My death, was all my own:

All that I am I owe to thee,

My gracious God alone.

My faith, my hopes, my joys depend

On Christ alone, the sinner's Friend!