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. In a small Jewish town in Russia, there was a rabbi who reportedly didn’t show up for several hours every Friday morning. His followers claimed that during that time he went up to heaven and talked to God. A stranger moved into town and was skeptical about all this, so he decided to check things 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, which he hauled to a shack on the outskirts of the village where an old woman and her sick son lived. He left them enough wood for a week, then crept back home. Having observed the rabbi’s behaviour for himself, the newcomer became his disciple. Now 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 are truly a recipient of salvation. Paul wrote these two scriptures to Titus: “In all things showing yourself to be a pattern of good works” (Titus 2:7 NKJV). “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” (3:8 NKJV).