“I do my best” (2) - All The Good Seed Daily Devotionals for 2025

By grace you have been saved, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
Ephesians 2:8-10.

"I do my best" (2)
Salvation, which is possessed by everyone who confesses the guilt of his life before God, is a gift that cannot be earned by good works, but is granted through one's faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Anything that is of ourselves is useless: God must be the Giver.

With salvation God gives a totally fresh start. "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new" (2 Corinthians 5:17). Thus, every believer, seen spiritually, is a new creation - the work of God created in Christ Jesus.

Created for what purpose? For good works. Only then does God's Word speak of good works. Even then they are not our achievements, done independently of God. He prepared them "beforehand", and the believer can carry them out in the power of the new life that he has received. He does so, because this new life motivates him. That is not effort and trouble in the uncertain hope of earning God's favour. It is joyful discipleship in the footsteps of the Lord Jesus, whom God glorified on this earth and now wishes His redeemed to take His place here. "Good works", as God sees them, are therefore those done by a child of God, because he has been saved.

(concluded)

Today's reading: Judges 4:1-16 · 2 Corinthians 4:1-6