Luke 18:12 (AMPC) I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I gain.
In this passage Luke 18:9-14 a man is denounced for approaching and seeking acceptance and justification before God on the ground of good works.
But this doesn’t mean that good works have no place before God. We are made right with God solely based on His Grace freely availed to us in His Son Jesus Christ through what He already did for us in the Cross. After we receive God’s free acceptance and justification we go on to live a life of good works as a fruit. The good works are a result of the finished Work God has already accomplished in us through Christ.
Therefore we love not in order for God to love us but because He first loved us. We forgive not so God may forgive us but even as He forgave us in Christ. We show kindness not so we may be shown kindness but because of God’s kindness already shown to us. We give not that God may give us but out of his lavish giving that He has bountifully poured out on us in His Son.
