belief > performance

This particular devotion was full of conviction on my part.
From November 28 of My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers:
The Bounty of the Destitute

I will give myself in consecration, I will do anything, but do not humiliate me to the level of the most hell-deserving sinner and tell me that all I have to do is to accept the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ.
We have to realize that we cannot earn or win anything from God; we must either receive it as a gift or do without it... He can do nothing for us if we think we are sufficient of ourselves; we have to enter into His Kingdom through the door of destitution. As long as we are rich, possessed of anything in the way of pride or independence, God cannot do anything for us. It is only when we get hungry spiritually that we receive the Holy Spirit.

I so deeply desire to hunger for the Lord in this way...
As Greg says, I so often see myself in a mirror and say that I "am not that bad." When I see the murders on tv, and the drug dealers throughout the city, my lack of submission as a wife, or my prideful judgments towards others are "not that bad." However, as I look into the mirror of God's righteousness, I cannot stand the sight of myself. It is absolutely impossible to live in a lie that says "I am okay." It is also impossible for me to live in the truth of the filth that I am with no way out...
Our flesh can never "do/preform" the Gospel. The flesh must die and a transformation must occur.

But now a righteousness from God, apart from the law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 3:21-23

Simple truths are:
1) that salvation is not about performance,
2) and Jesus' love is bigger than all sin.
There is Hope. His name is Jesus.