Because He First Served Us

Our good works, which flow from our faith, are not for God. They are for our neighbor. As Martin Luther preached, “By faith we receive blessings from above, from God; through love we give them out below, to our neighbor.” In other words, works no longer dominate us; rather, we have dominion over them, as God intended.

We have been freed from the curse of the law, and we are liberated to a life of good works. We have been given a new desire to love our neighbor (whoever they are), a desire that comes not from fear about what will happen but out of gratitude for what has already happened.