Accepting Atonement

The fact that I am trying to be right with God is a sign that I am rebelling against the Atonement. 'Lord, I will purify my heart if You will answer my prayer; I will walk rightly if You will help me'. I cannot make myself right with God, I cannot make my life perfect; I can only be right with God if I can accept the Atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ as an absolute gift. Am I humble enough to accept it? I have to resign every kind of claim and cease from every effort, and leave myself entirely alone in His hands.. Jesus is not beginning to save us, He has saved us, the thing is done, and it is an insult to ask Him to do it.

--Oswald Chambers