Ephesians 8:8-10 GW God saved you through faith as an act of kindness. You had nothing to do with it. Being saved is a gift from God. It's not the result of anything you've done, so no one can brag about it.
God has made us what we are. He has created us in Christ Jesus to live lives filled with good works that he has prepared for us to do.
Good works to really be good works and not something done for praise, to meet an agenda or to manipulate, starts not with us, but with God.
Only as God works in and through us will our motives be pure for love, real, self-sacrificial love doesn't come from the self-centered heart of humankind. Real loving acts of service and self-sacrifice come from God's heart, for God is love. Without Him we cannot live or love or reach out.
Help me, Jesus, make sure when I reach out that my motives are pure and stem from Your love inside--not from my own needs or wants. Amen.
