The importance of good works

The word ‘love’ isn’t just a noun, it’s a verb (an action word). And it’s not demonstrated simply by what you say but by what you do. It was reputed that in a small Jewish town in Russia, there was a rabbi who disappeared for several hours every Friday morning. His congregation claimed he went up to heaven and talked to God. A stranger moved into town and was sceptical about all this, so he decided to check it out. He hid and watched. The rabbi got up in the morning, said his prayers, then dressed in peasant clothes. He grabbed an axe and went off into the woods and cut firewood. He hauled the wood to a shack on the outskirts of the village where an old woman and her sick son lived. He left them enough for a week, then crept back home.

Having observed the rabbi’s behaviour for himself, the newcomer became his follower. Afterwards, when he heard the villagers say, ‘On Friday morning, our rabbi ascends all the way up to heaven,’ he quietly added, ‘If not higher.’ You can’t earn salvation by doing good works, but if you are truly saved, your actions and attitudes will prove that you have received salvation.

Paul wrote these two Scriptures to Titus: ‘In all things showing yourself to be a pattern of good works’ (Titus 2:7 NKJV); ‘This is a faithful saying, and these things I want you to affirm constantly, that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men.’ (Titus 3:8 NKJV)