" This forgiveness and righteous standing have absolutely nothing to do with how high we can pull ourselves up by our moral bootstraps. The bootstraps of self-righteousness are chains. This righteousness of God apart from the law is a gift of grace. It is only through trusting in the work of Christ’s sacrificial death that we can be “justified by his grace as a gift” (Rom. 3:24). "

― Gloria Furman , The Pastor's Wife: Strengthened by Grace for a Life of Love