Yeah I know the title seems weird but almost everyday we are seduced. Seduced to do bad things is normal but seduced to do good is more normal. Is it a bad thing? Not necessarily but it can become. How you might ask?
Well people like me who tend to be religious and moral tend to make our good works as a tool to find favor with God. I usually equate my good works as a way to attract God’s favor and negate the curses in my life.
Moralistic people tend to live life thinking that if I do better, I get the blessing. We tend to live out our life performing for Christ rather than looking at what Christ did for us. I do not need to earn God’s favor, I am favored by God already. I don’t need to be afraid of the curse because Christ has redeemed me from the curse of the law.
Galatians 3:13
13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.”
At the same time I am seduced by the power of knowing that I am better than others. It has become a pride thing for me to be good and announce to the world that I am good. I love how Pastor LA Mumar once said, “Don’t compare yourself to the devil.” Once we start taking pride on how good we are takes away the glory from Christ.
Romans 12:3
3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.
How could I even boast about my good works when compared to the holiness and glory of Christ I am nothing. The Scripture describes to us our good works:
Isaiah 64:6
6 All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.
So next time we are seduced to do good, ask yourself, ” Am I trying to do good because it has become my security blanket in Christ or is it an outworking of God’s Spirit and Christ work at the cross that I do good?”
Ephesians 2:8-10
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
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