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Good Works
A boy stood watching a caterpillar spinning a very beautiful cocoon. Before long, a man who was a believer stood beside him watching the operation as well. After awhile, the man spoke: “God sets that little creature a task to do, and by instinct he diligently and skillfully does it. Just so, when we are saved, God gives us good works to perform in His name and for His sake. But were the insect to remain satisfied forever in the silken ball which he is weaving, it would become, not his home, but his tomb. No, only by forcing a way through it and not resting in it, will the winged creature reach sunshine and air.”
And so it is with the Christian. On the one hand, we must realize that whatever we do for the Lord that has merit, and whatever energy of faith there may be, was all from Himself. “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10). But there must be spiritual energy and exercise as well. We must “be careful to maintain good works … . In all things shewing thyself a pattern of good works … a peculiar people, zealous of good works” (Titus 3:8; 2:7; 2:14).
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