Faith in Christ is what matters, but what we do does reflect upon the reality of that faith. If I say I have faith but have no works, I'm a liar plain and simple. Such is at best merely so-called faith, which cannot save but only leave me in my sin under the wrath of God. Faith that is efficacious salvifically doesn't try to bamboozle God with lip-service while a faithless heart does evil works. Faith is active, faith works, specifically, through love.
What good works we do are actually not our own fault. These "things" have been seeded by the hand of our loving God onto the pathway of our lives. We will stumble into them just by walking, without having to climb Everest or swim the English Channel to accomplish them. To miss such "things" so readily provided by God could only mean that we didn't have the faith to bother. Oblivious is not something faith is.
We live out of what Christ has freely given to us through faith; namely, righteousness and the Holy Spirit. We have nothing to prove by trying to live up to some code by willful exertion. If we attempted to prove something to God in that fashion, we would only prove that we are sinners. Doing the good that God has prepared for us to do and endeavoring to emulate Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit only demonstrates the faith in him that we do have.
It certainly is a joy to be alive, accepted, and actuated by God. Burdening ourselves and others with a need to earn status or to measure up before God is joyless. It's embracing the law instead of the gospel and trying to find satisfaction in emptiness. That's a fool's errand that smacks of the curse. The law was not given to us that we could gain righteousness by it. If that's what you're doing, please, stop in the name of Jesus, and especially in the name of the Law.Stop, In the Name of the Law
