“Then Haggai responded, “That is how it is with this people and this nation, says the Lord. Everything they do and everything they offer is defiled by their sin.”
Haggai 2:14 NLT
No one has more hubris than the person who has a relationship with God. We as believers are all that creature and we should all be able to readily Quixote scriptures that state the wickedness of our hearts, or the fallen state of men. Instead, there is a large subsection who repeatedly emphasize salvation and inheritance. What they forget is that these things are not ontological sureties. We are not entitled to their truths. These are relational sureties, provided by the character yet of an infinite God who is benevolent to us. Even in perfection, what we offer does not meet his ontological standard. To be clear, because of Jesus, any can come before God in a meaningful and true way, but without him, even perfection doesn’t pass muster. Our motivation in giving must always be humble and aware that we give as a relational truth, not as an ontological truth. We have no right or to sinlessness. This state is bestowed and not achieved. We should never present it as otherwise. We should be humble in our walk with God and before men.
JOSH McGARY. COM 