Are Your Good Works Really “Good?”
To God, did you know our righteous acts can very well be compared to filthy rags (Isa 64:6)? How is this so? Well, things done by human effort influenced by worldly thinking are often done for selfish gain. These things could look really good on the surface, and maybe even to others watching, but at the end they are godless acts accomplished for your own purposes and not for His. You see, “those who are in the flesh cannot please God” (Rom 8:8), Things done in our own effort and by our own invention do not please Him, no matter how good they look. Confused? If you do not care about whom you are pleasing with your “good” works and are happy to simply gain the credit of people versus getting any from God – stop reading this post. But if you want to know if what you are doing is really good according to God’s standards and that you will reap eternal rewards for your actions, read on.
God says, “Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations— I cannot bear your worthless assemblies. Your New Moon feasts and your appointed festivals I hate with all my being. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands in prayer, I hide my eyes from you; even when you offer many prayers, I am not listening” (Isa 1:13-15). These things mentioned in this passage that people are doing do not look terrible on the surface (i.e. religious gatherings, sacrifices done supposedly done for God, religious holidays celebrated, praying). In the minds of those doing them, they even think they are doing fine. But God says stop it! Do you know why? It is a smokescreen! They’re done in human effort and for self-gain versus for the honor and glory of God. People think if I do these things, God will reward me, like a tit-for-tat arrangement. Well, that is not how God works. You cannot earn His favor! Stop wasting your energy…go do something more productive instead of trying to earn God’s grace; it is impossible (Eph 2:8-9)! You have absolutely no chance of success, so why torture yourself?
“Unless the LORD builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; unless the LORD guards the city, the watchman keeps awake in vain” (Psa 127:1). You can build a house, a temple, a church; you can give to charity, great causes and give wonderful gifts to others to impress and reap worldly praise. All these things may even seem wonderful when they are done. However, if you do supposedly good things without God’s leading and without His empowerment, truth is, “you outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness” (Matt 23:28).
“Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven” (Matt 6:1). Those “so-called” good things that the world defines, here’s what the Lord says, “They have built the high places …which I did not command, and it did not come into My mind. ‘Therefore, behold, days are coming,’ declares the LORD, ‘…for the land will become a ruin’” (Jer 7:30-31, 32, 34). Your “supposedly” righteous acts will burn up like filthy rags if they were done with human effort and by human machination. You can count on it (cf. 1 Cor 3:13-15)! If God leads you to do good things via His consultation and command and they are generated from His mind versus your own, go do them. If you are doing them grudgingly, or you are under no compulsion by Him to do them, no credit will be given to you by the Lord for doing them.
You can be wasting a lot of time and energy doing such wonderful things in your own mind, but spinning your wheels getting nowhere with God if you do not do things which please Him (2 Cor 5:9). Only the Lord determines what those things will be, and He will tell you the good things to do if you are in a right relationship with Him. Human accolades are nothing compared to God’s rewards. “So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be honored by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you” (Matt 6:2-4).
“Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” (1 Cor 10:31)
Ask yourself, did you do what you did for the praise of people, or to please and glorify God? If your answer is not 100% the latter, it was not a good work according to God’s measure. Another great measure…would you still do what you did if it was only the LORD that knew what you had done, and no one else in the world even had a clue? You should think about all the supposedly good things you do and put them up to that test. Then you’ll know if what you do is for God, or for the praise of people just to make yourself feel good, or so you might look good. That would be doing something for selfish reasons. You’re choice! But only things you do 100% for God have any real worth and eternal value. Everything else is just a filthy rag to Him, and might bring a flicker of “supposed” satisfaction, but at the end, will be utterly worthless by divine standards and have absolutely no heavenly value.
What are you striving for with your actions: God’s honor and glory, or your own? There are no “in-between’s!” Either “you” are the lord of your life, or the LORD Almighty is. Who you ultimately choose in this life will determine who your king will be in the next one, which is where your eternal life will be spent. God carries forward your choice from life to death, and will remind you of your earthly decision at judgment (cf. Heb 9:27)…so choose wisely, there are absolutely no do-overs or take backs!
If you are not 100% confident that you have a relationship with the Lord, click on the link below and solidify this as soon as possible…
http://crustore.org/fourlawseng.htm