Summary
Knowing the connection between our belief and our actions helps us to understand how they fit together in our service to others. We must never minimize the power of faith; we don’t have to add our own self-effort to faith to get it to work for us. Our works are indeed important, but by themselves they don’t justify us before God; they should instead flow out of our faith in His grace. Trusting in Him—not working and striving—makes us righteous. Our works should be the evidence of our strong faith; they should demonstrate our belief in a tangible way that others can see. The motives behind what we do make the difference between empty works in which we’re simply going through the motions and works of faith which are pleasing to God. Putting into practice this relationship between faith and works makes us more effective Christians.
