The Shepherd Still Calls – Part 2

Can Good Works Lead Us to Drift?

After reflecting on spiritual drift, someone asked a thoughtful question:

“Can we drift from God… even through good works?

I think Luther would say yes. And I think he’d say it strongly.”

At first, that might sound strange. Aren’t good works exactly what God calls us to do?

They are. But the answer may lie in a deeper question:
What is driving those works—and for whose glory?

James writes, “faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead” (James 2:17). It’s one of my favorite verses, because it pushes us to take our faith out of the classroom and into the world. Faith is not meant to sit idle. It is meant to live, to act, to serve.

But this same verse caused tension for Luther.

In his time, people would use James to argue that we are not saved by grace alone or faith alone… that our works somehow complete or secure our salvation. And Luther saw the danger clearly. He saw people drifting farther from God; not through obvious sin, but through their own works. Through a kind of piety that no longer depended on Christ.

And that danger is still very real.

Right now, as we’ve been walking through the Minor Prophets with our youth, it’s striking how often this comes up. Again and again, God says that even good works (even worship) done with an empty or misplaced heart are not pleasing to Him. In fact, they are abhorrent.

Not because the works themselves are wrong.
But because God is no longer at the center of them.

That’s the issue.

Our piety, our good works, our discipline, even our worship, can actually become a barrier between us and God if they turn inward. If they become about us.

That was at the heart of Jesus’ constant conflict with the Pharisees. They hadn’t abandoned good works. They had mastered them! And yet, in the process, they lost sight of what truly matters. Their works no longer pointed to God’s mercy. They pointed to themselves.

And if we’re honest, we’re not so different.

Sometimes, nothing separates us from them but time and culture.

We can become so caught up in doing good, being good, looking faithful, that we begin to believe we’ve done enough. That we’re steady. That we can coast a little.

Or we become so focused on the doing that we forget the why.

And slowly, quietly… we drift.

Not away from activity.
But away from Christ.

That’s why I always come back to the words of John the Baptist:

“He must increase, but I must decrease” (Gospel of John 3:30).

That’s the heart of it.

The goal of the Christian life is that when people look at us, they see more of God and less of us. Not that your personality disappears (God made you who you are on purpose) but that your life becomes shaped more and more by His will, His purposes, His goodness.

Our plans decrease.
His plans take center stage.

Our ego steps back.
His glory shines forward.

And sometimes, that means something very simple and very hard:

Getting out of God’s way.

Letting Him be the one who leads.
Letting Him be the one who defines what is good.
Letting Him be the one who sustains your faith.

Because here’s the truth we need to hold onto:

You are not sustained by your works.
You are sustained by Christ.

Your works do not keep you close to God.
His gifts do.

His Word.
His forgiveness.
His Church.
His body and blood given for you.

From there—from being gathered, forgiven, fed, restored—good works flow. Not as a performance. Not as a measure of your worth. But as the natural fruit of a faith that is alive in Christ.

So can good works lead us to drift?

Yes—if they become about us.

But when they flow from Christ,
when they point back to Christ,
when they are sustained by Christ,

they do exactly what they were meant to do.

They glorify Him.

And they keep us right where we belong:

Not trusting in ourselves.
But resting in Him.