The last thing I want to do is to do what the Israelites did in the wilderness. Following Jesus isn't works, it is a way of life, a righteous life.
I love Jesus with all my heart and will follow Him all the days of my life. I try to be an example to others in my daily life and try to be like the Good Samaritan. I sincerely hope people see the love of Christ shining through in all I say and do. At the end I hope the Lord will say to me, "Well done my good and faithful servant."
The second paragraph is your post above, can't figure out how to add post as a quote.
You are right, following Jesus isn't works and it is a way of life.
It's a life that we should seek after.
A righteous life?
If one could lead a righteous life would one need Jesus?
Afterall
Romans 3:10-12
10 As it is written:
“There is none righteous, no, not one;
11 There is none who understands;
There is none who seeks after God.
12 They have all turned aside;
They have together become unprofitable;
There is none who does good, no, not one.”
So we righteous by what we do.
We are righteous because of the following
Romans 3:21-26
God’s Righteousness Through Faith
21 But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22 even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, 26 to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
So we can't do the following
Romans 3:27-28
Boasting Excluded
27 Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith. 28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law.
We are declared righteous on account of Jesus and what he has done, having his righteousness attributed to us based on what he has done based on our faith in him.
Our Lord who died and rose again to reconcile us to the Father.
There is no one righteous other than our saviour.
If we miss this then this leads to "I must do and must do to be saved to make myself more righteous"
Rather than doing because we are saved and God has imputed the righteousness of Jesus to us and we have been justified by faith.
My friend we all want to be Jesus, we all want our light shine before men.
Our Lord will say "Well done" to those who knew him.
Not those who had great works but did not know him.
We should always encourage each to grow in Jesus, run the race with them.
If we have placed genuine saving faith in Jesus as prescribed in many verses in the Bible then he will say "Well done my good and faithful servant"
God bless you.
Bill