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When we get born again, God immediately declares us righteous because of our belief in Jesus. This is our stance in Christ, independent of our actions. Our behavior certainly does matter, but our actions must come out of our faith in God’s grace; otherwise, they’re empty works. We could never earn our righteousness or our salvation; we received them as gifts because we believed. Just like Abraham, God sees us as righteous when trust in Him—not in ourselves—for the motivation behind the things we do.

Knowing the connection between our belief and our actions helps us to understand how they both fit together in our service to others. We must never minimize the power of faith; we don’t have to add our own self-effort to faith to get it to work for us. Our works are indeed important, but by themselves they don’t justify us before God; they should instead flow out of our faith in His grace. Trusting in Him—not working and striving—makes us righteous.

Knowing the connection between our belief and our actions helps us to understand how they both fit together in our service to others. We must never minimize the power of faith; we don’t have to add our own self-effort to faith to get it to work for us. Our works are indeed important, but by themselves they don’t justify us before God; they should instead flow out of our faith in His grace. Trusting in Him—not working and striving—makes us righteous.