day no. 16,419: as long as we call even a mite our own, we cannot call salvation ours

Let our debts be what they may,

However great, or small;

As soon as we have naught to pay,

Our Lord forgives us all.

'Tis perfect poverty alone,

That sets the soul at large;

While we can call one mite our own,

We have no full discharge.

— Joseph Hart, Mercy Is Welcome News Indeed

The only thing you must have in order to be saved is the one thing most people refuse to have: nothing. Nothing is more difficult to muster than nothing. Especially when so much is at stake.

It is only natural to want to bring something to the table. To receive favor without merit is humiliating. So much so, in fact, that only humility can do it. But even then, it is easy to be proud of one's humility. Humility is not the something you use to catch grace, it is the word for having nothing to catch with. Grace is given at the expense of the Giver and the benefit of the receiver. Only empty hands can catch it. The mitts of merit will never catch divine favor, but the bare-handed can avoid catching hell.

Achievements will not get you hired in Heaven.

Only those with blank resumes need apply.