“Do not say in your heart, after the Lord your God has thrust them out before you, ‘It is because of my righteousness that the Lord has brought me in to possess this land,’ whereas it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving them out before you. Not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart are you going in to possess their land."

Deuteronomy 9:4-5 ESV

Every Christian must recognise their absolute dependency on Christ. Any good thing that has ever come from the church has surely been of God, for without Him no good thing can exist. No Godly person should be so foolish as to claim credit for their achievements, or even to think they contributed in some way, to do so would be pride and arrogance. Every success of the Christian is a gift of grace so that no man can boast in his own ability or his own godliness. Too many Christians today speak glibly of their own gifting and anointing. There is no virtue any man could display that Christ does not already possess. Christ is the paradigm of the perfect man; Any virtue that can be obtained is already perfectly modelled in the character of Christ. The only thing man has ever contributed towards God, that Jesus did not already have, is man's sin. While this may be humbling, it should also be reassuring and invoke great joy. God is reminding us that His goodness is apart from ours. God displays His love and mercy, He answers prayer, brings deliverance and He provides. This and more, is completely independent of our availability to earn it! God is at work amongst His people because He is righteous, not because they are.