We cannot hold on to our light and be saved

There is no darkness with God. Therefore, we cannot hold onto darkness and come into the presence of God. And the foremost darkness that binds us and keeps us from God’s presence is our pride. Notice that when Jesus speaks of the doors being shut to those outside the Kingdom, that those shut outside the Kingdom demand entry by appealing to their works, believing that God ought to accept them based on their merits. Again, there is we must remember there is no darkness with God. The greatest of our works are tainted with sin. If we hold on to them, we are holding onto what is tainted, mere filthy rags. In our pride we have chosen to hold on to darkness. And you cannot hold onto darkness and be in the presence of God. God is not near the great, but near the broken hearted, those who have let go of appealing to their own righteousness, who have let go trying to come to God with soiled and polluted appeals. If we boast, we must boast in something else, something untainted by sin. The more we come to understand the Holiness of God, the more we come to understand the depths and horror of our sin, and the more we understand the futility of our appeals. We have no hope in ourselves. It is not the proud or those that have done great works that can come near to God, it is those who have died to their effort and appeals and realize their only hope is in the work and worth of Jesus. They can only present what Jesus has done. We cannot fight or work our way into fellowship with God. We must cease striving and be still, die to ourselves. It is only as we let go of our darkness and call upon the name of the Lord that we can be saved.