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When God created the first man and woman, they were not sinful. They lost their created goodness when they chose not to depend on God completely. Not to trust Him fully.  

A full, continual, unwavering dependence upon God is the only thing that keeps God in the creature. Our lost goodness can never come again, or be found in us, until Jesus lives in each of us.

 When that happens, when we are ‘saved,’  we are brought out of ourselves. We are brought out of all selfish truths. We are brought into full and blessed dependence upon God.

Some believers fret and worry because they can’t ‘do better.’ They try and try to change themselves. It’s a great thing that we can’t change ourselves. If we could, every part of our so-called religion would have only the nature and vanity of idolatry.

For we cannot come to God, we cannot believe in Him, we cannot worship Him in Spirit and truth—unless we live in the truth that  He is the only giver. We are only receivers of every heavenly good, that can possibly come to life in us.

A paraphrase and edit from a passage of Power in the Spirit by William Law, edited by Andrew Murray, 1896.