Faith Versus Works

We cannot earn our way to heaven or God’s blessings.  It is by our faith, as explained in last week’s post, that we connect with God to gain salvation and blessings.

Galatians 2:16 NKJV – knowing that man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.

Charles Spurgeon – “Neither the Jewish Law of the ten commands nor its law of ceremonies was ever intended to save anybody.  By a set of pictures it set forth the way of salvation, but it was not itself the way.  It was a map, not a country; a model of the road, not the road itself.”

Galations 3:11 – But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for “the just shall live by faith.”

God gave the Law so that people could truly know what was good and what was evil.  “The law is like a mirror.  All it can do is reflect what we are in truth – unclean and desperately in need of cleansing.”  (Ray Comfort, note on Gal 3:11 in The Evidence Bible.)  The law only shows us what needs to be fixed in order to be right with God.  Doing good things without faith in God will not bring us to salvation.

Ephesians 2:8-9 – For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.

Our works should come from our faith instead.  They should be what we want to do because of our connection with God.  They are not done to acquire anything from God or from people.  Do good things because they help someone else regardless of any benefit you might get.  The only thing you should even think of is the benefits the other person will get from what you do for them.  The works we do through faith in God should inspire others to at least think about God.  It is seed planting in God’s kingdom.

God gave us the Holy Spirit upon accepting Christ, so that we have a helper and counselor in all that we do.  He will guide us in the right direction with what we should be doing for Him.  This will lead to us doing proper works that bless many.

Never stop doing good things, but make sure you realize why you are doing them.  If you are primarily doing them to gain something for yourself in return, you have missed the mark.  Let’s make sure our good works are simply to help others and inspire them to know Christ.  Let your faith in Him shine through those works with God’s love.