God Empowers You To Do Good Works
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God … For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Ephesians 2:8,10
Our Christian lives should be characterized by good deeds. The Bible makes it clear that good deeds cannot earn our salvation. Salvation is a gift. But salvation makes us new people and gives us new lives. God sees us as his masterpieces. As his new people, we embark on a life of adventure. But we don’t have to dash around trying to find good things to do for God. Instead, those good things were already planned out for us a long time ago. We simply need to be obedient, and God will make them clear to us.
God will put certain people into our lives, bring us to the right place at the right time, give us special abilities that he will use and give us a heart for meeting a certain need. God calls us to do good works. What those good works will be depends on where God leads us.
We are called to do good things for God. Thus, we can follow him in obedience, knowing that every good deed we do is for his glory.
GOD’S PROMISE TO ME
• I saved you not because you are good but because I choose to show favor to you.
• You are my masterpiece. I make you new so that you can do the good things I planned for you long ago.
MY PRAYER TO GOD
You saved us, Lord! What a glorious gift! We can take no credit for our salvation, for you gave it to us. I pray that I will never be caught in the trap of thinking that I have to do good deeds in order to earn or hold onto your salvation. I am saved by your grace, and good deeds are simply part of your plan for me.