Why do we do good deeds?
Why do we do good deeds? Do we do good deeds to feel better? To change our mind about us? To secure a place in Heaven? To prove to ourselves that we are good people? Because we know that any good deed will satisfy our human nature? To compensate for the harm we have done … or to cancel it?
I think that all the reasons we have listed above are a big trap that we set ourselves. I hope that none of them is the engine that urges you to do good to yourself, the one who reads these lines. Good deeds are, in fact, the fruit of faith (James 2:14: “My brethren, what profit is it if a man have faith, if he hath not works? Can this faith save him?”). Faith in God is the only true source from which our works must spring.
God loved us even before the beginning of the world. Since then, He has made a plan for each of us, given us a purpose, and guided us. Since then He has prepared for each one the good deeds. The choice to love and choose Him as Master, to receive Him into our lives as Savior, belongs to us. That he loves us we have clear proof, which we cannot deny: He offered Himself a sacrifice, He was crucified on the cross, so that we may live forever. He bore all the sin of mankind, because He knew that no man would ever be worthy to come into the presence of the Father alone, without His help.
The fact that we love God must be seen in our daily lives. Our deeds will not bring us salvation. It was given to us even before we were born, and we have no merit for that. It was given to us out of full love, the love of God! Our good deeds are proof that we also love Him back, even though our love will never be able to measure up to His.
There is a trap of falling into grave pride because of these good deeds: “I have done,” “I am good,” “I can,” “I am better than a coward, who does not do what I do.” These things feed our human pride, and we do nothing but turn God away from us. He is the only one who must receive the glory of our good deeds, because He is the one who commits them. We need humility every time, because that is the only way we approach Him. If we show ourselves, if we glorify ourselves by our deeds, all we will receive will be this false, satisfying glory for the moment, gently driving God out of our hearts.
