Grace and Good Works

Saved by grace through faith. Incredible! All God's doing! Even faith is a gift. Works is our response to God's grace, not to obtain God's grace. Grace is free! Grace cannot be earned or bought. That is why works for salvation is useless. Utterly useless! Works done to stay in God's favor is also useless. Get the picture?

We are called to do good works, but, again, not for our salvation. Salvation belongs to our God ... (Revelation 7:10)! We are admonished to, however, work out or live out our salvation (Philippians 2:12). Isn't is cool that God prepared good works beforehand for us to walk in them (Ephesians 2:10)? Why? So we would not entertain the idea that our good works can effect our salvation. So we would not hold committee meetings to determine what are good works and how they should be done. So we would not be trapped in legalism.

Also, note that He prepared the good works for us to walk in. It is a relationship, not just actions. It is a lifestyle, not fad. Good works are to be God works. Meaning? It is God doing them in and through us in light of our relationship with Him. He equips us to live them out. In essence, grace effects us to walk in God's good works. Grace for the walk. Grace in the walk. Grace to walk in God's good works which He prepared beforehand.