Do Good Works Come Naturally?
“When you have the Spirit of God, you just naturally do good works. You don’t have to consciously think of doing them; it’s a natural result of having His Spirit.” Is there anything wrong with the above statement? It sounds good to the ear. It even sounds reasonable. To be sure, let’s see if it holds up under the word of God.
The apostles were commanded by Jesus Christ, in their three years of training, to teach people all that He commanded and taught them. What does this teach us? Jesus Christ commands us to do something (Matt. 28:20).
Jesus says a determination is being made as to whether or not we will keep His commandments and bear fruit (Matt. 3:10). He says we must strive to enter by pushing ourselves, and many will not make it (Luke 13:24). We have to give up something—our old ways (Luke 14:33). We have to persevere to win our souls (Luke 21:19). We have to force our way into the kingdom (Luke 16:16). Our righteousness must surpass the hypocritical stage of the scribes and Pharisees who were hypocrites (Matt. 5:20; 23:5, 13).
The Bible tells us we will eventually be like happy slaves, doing God’s Will (righteousness) from the heart (Eph. 6:6). But first we must overcome our natures by disciplining ourselves according to godliness; and to do this, we must force ourselves at times to do Christ’s works or deeds (1 Tim. 4:7; Rev. 2:26; John 14:12).
We are told to fight the good fight of faith (1 Tim. 1:18; 2 Tim. 4:7). We are told to endure to the end to be saved (Matt. 10:22; 24:13; Heb. 10:36). In other words, we are to do good deeds of righteousness until the end (Heb. 10:24-25). We must not grow weary or lose heart in doing good deeds (Gal. 6:9).
We have to live this Way daily to be worthy of Christ (Matt. 10:38). We are commanded to be careful to engage in good deeds for the purpose of overcoming the devil (Titus 3:8; Rom. 12:21). If we prove zealous for good deeds and allow God to crush Satan’s will in our lives, he can do us no harm (1 Peter 3:13; 2 Tim. 2:26; Rom. 16:20).
Now, let’s ask the question again. “Will you naturally do good as a result of having God’s Spirit in you?” In order to continue to think that doing good is automatic for a disciple of Jesus Christ, a person would have to cancel out all of the above Scriptures, and they represent but a few of the many which can be found in God’s word on this subject (Psalm 11:7).