Someone sent me this great word by J. C. Ryle recently:

Look not to yourselves! You are by nature wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked; you cannot make atonement for your past transgressions, you cannot wipe out a single page in that long black list. And when the King shall ask you for your wedding garment you will be speechless. Look simply unto Jesus, and then the weight shall fall from off your shoulders, the course shall be clear and plain, and you shall run the race which is set before you.

The Puritans used to say for every one look at self you need to take ten looks at Jesus. May the gospel of Christ empower us to live a life worthy of the calling to which we have been called.