With all thy soul love God above,
And as thyself thy neighbour love.
Prayer of Confession
Most Merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word and deed by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. We have not loved our neighbour as ourselves. We are truly sorry and we humbly repent. For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us; that we may delight in your ways, to the glory of your Name,
Amen
I am taken aback when Christians say they love God with all their heart or when they say they love their neighbour as themselves. Jesus loves the Father perfectly but I certainly don’t. I must plead His imputed righteousness, not my own for it is as filthy rags. If the perspective of the above prayer of confession is not yours or your children’s, you probably don’t understand Christ’s love within the Trinity and His love for His people. This kind of love is supernatural and so, because our battle with the flesh is new every day, our lives ought to be ones of continual repentance, a moment by moment pleading the blood of Christ and His great high priestly intersession at the right hand of the Father. Guard your hearts from the delusion of not desperately needing the ministry of Jesus and the Holy Spirit as long as God grants us breath. It is only through the merits of Christ that we can boldly approach the throne of Grace while working out our salvation with fear and trembling.
“The struggle, the resistance you will encounter as you pursue the Good, will help you realize that you are not sufficient for the task. It will keep you dependent on the object of your faith, not the strength of your will.”
– Eric Cook
