The comfort of the Cross that Jesus bore means more and more to us as we become more aware of the sin that must go under the blood of the Lord. It’s as C. S. Lewis said: a moderately bad man knows he is not very good, but a thoroughly bad man thinks he is quite all right.
The only tenable view is that our salvation and our sanctification is a work of Christ, not a work of us. We can, and as we mature we will more and more want to, bring it forth, yet “with fear and trembling.” The fear and trembling are from the consciousness of our own falling short of the grace of a powerful God who desires a degree of love that would stagger any mortal. I plead God daily for mercy and then remember that I should also show mercy to other people. The spiritual air that we choose to give to other people is the same kind of air that the Lord will furnish to us.
Amen. Comforting thoughts.