The Greatest Good

I have been thinking about my future plans a lot. I have been saying that whatever I do, I want to do the "greatest good." There is a very specific picture in my head of what this means. I read stories of missionaries who took in orphans and refugees, who clothed the naked and fed the hungry, all while preaching the Gospel. This is in my mind the greatest good. So I have wanted very desperately to make my future plans line up with this idea. How much good am I doing now? Could that good increase if I follow this course of action or that course of action?

God gently convicted me this morning as I read His word. "It is by grace you have been saved, through faith- and this is not from yourselves, it is a gift of God- not by works so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." Ephesians 2:8-10. See in my desire to plan to do good, I was growing in a future pride. I want one day to hear good and faithful servant. This I think is good, but only when in its proper place. If I do good to get a crown at the end, I am missing the mark. God reminded me today that He prepares good works for me. He thus will reveal what these good works are in His timing. And what He considers the greatest good for me and through me, might look really different than my plans.

In the end: I am saved by grace. I do not earn salvation, nor do I earn grace. I am His workmanship. He has prepared good works for me.