Written by Kat Bittner, Volunteer and Board Member with Iron Rose Sister Ministries
I recall a time struggling to understand faith vs. works. There was a tendency growing up to believe that one had to be “doing good” to get to Heaven. And I was consumed by that belief. I battled internally with guilt – and fear – that my faith wasn’t sufficient because I wasn’t doing enough. Even after marrying a faithful believer, becoming a mother, and making a home, I felt inadequate as a Christian woman.
However, a wise, Godly woman speaking at a ladies’ event helped me understand something that changed my thinking. It was my flawed perspective on “doing good” that kept me from being the faithful woman of God I wanted to be… and that God had intended for me. She said it starts with a faithful fear of the Lord.
What’s required of us by God is to “fear the Lord…and live in a way that pleases Him” (Dt 10:12 NLT). She further explained that the fear of the Lord is not being afraid of God, or His wrath and punishment, or not going to Heaven. Rather, it is reverence and awe of His holiness and submission to Him. Scripture tells us that the fear of the Lord produces wisdom (Ps 111:10) and faithfulness (Pr 2:1-6; Jas 3:13). And faithfulness is revealed by our fruits or good deeds (Mt 7:17-20). And I learned from this wise woman’s counsel and further study on my own that I am not doing good to be faithful, but the other way around. Because I am faithful, I do good.
I will show you my faith by my good deeds. (Jas 2:18)
I have also come to appreciate that the more I grow in my faith, the more active in my faith I am (Jas 2:18, 24). Because I was “created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Eph 2:10 NIV), I pursue those things which God has gifted me to do. For example, I am passionate about women’s and children’s ministries and devote a lot of my time teaching and serving in areas that further those efforts, like Iron Rose Sister Ministries and Ciudad de Angeles in Cozumel, Mexico. In my home congregation, I teach the 2- and 3-year olds’ Bible class and VBS, serve on our Women’s Ministry Committee, lead several women’s events and classes, and organize the ministry that serves meals to families in need within our congregation. God has also called me to do a good work with my gift and love for singing. I do this by spreading the name of Jesus in sacred song with the community choir of which I’m a part.
I do all this not to earn my way to Heaven, nor do I share this with you to boast. On the contrary, I am active in all this because each day I only want to please the Lord in doing what He has ordained for my life (Ps 139:16). I want to do good things to honor and glorify God because I love Him, and I am thankful to be in relationship with Him. Put simply, I want to do these things. As we have been commanded to “love each other just as I have loved you” (Jn 13:34 NLT), I want to do them because I express my love for God by doing things for others in love.
Every woman is equipped to put her faith into action with the good works that God has especially designed for her. Not every woman will teach. Not every woman will sing. Not every woman will be a wife or mother. But every woman can increase in wisdom through the fear of the Lord. And the wise woman who does good reveals her faithfulness by what she does. And she is to be praised for it (Pr 31:30-31)!
From the mundane task to the most benevolent act – all things should be done for God’s glory and in service to Him (Col 3:23-24). Our faithfulness to God is revealed through the deeds we do, which He has prepared for us according to the unique way He created each of us. Theologian and evangelist John Wesely sums it up well with the following synthesis of his teachings and sentiments: “Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.”
What will you do as a wise woman of action, showing your faithfulness to God?
