This is Part II of "How Can I Be Sure God Loves Me?" I will examine another way that biblical authors and characters assured themselves of God's love.
3. God loves me because I do good deeds.
I know that Protestants will cringe at this statement, both the evangelicals who think that the entire Bible is about justification by grace through faith alone, and the mainline Protestants who assume that God loves everybody the same amount. But you find something like it throughout the Bible. Consider Psalm 18:19-26:
"He brought me forth also into a large place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me. The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me. For I have kept the ways of the LORD, and have not wickedly departed from my God. For all his judgments were before me, and I did not put away his statutes from me. I was also upright before him, and I kept myself from mine iniquity. Therefore hath the LORD recompensed me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his eyesight. With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful; with an upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright; with the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure; and with the froward thou wilt shew thyself froward."
Can you imagine this author in an evangelical Bible study? "What do you mean you are upright and have clean hands?" I can picture the evangelicals saying. "You are a sinner! Any righteousness that you have is imputed. Any 'good' work that you do is tainted by sin. You do not deserve God's deliverance. If God delivers you, he does so because he is good, not you. You're sounding a little self-righteous there, to say the least!"
Or take Psalm 103:17-18: "But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children's children; to such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them." Can you picture the reaction of mainline Protestants? "God is also good to those who do not keep his commandments, since God loves everybody the same amount!"
All sorts of people appeal to their own righteousness in the Bible. Job wondered why he was suffering. After all, didn't he live a righteous life, and wasn't God supposed to treat the upright well? Throughout Nehemiah 13, Nehemiah asks God to remember the good things he did in contrast to the evil deeds of his enemies. And Paul (or pseudo-Paul) talks about his clean conscience (Acts 24:16; II Timothy 1:3).
I would be simplistic to say that these authors or characters advocated salvation by works. The Psalmist often mentions God's forgiveness and the need for God to cleanse his heart (Psalms 31-32, 51). The vast majority of the Hebrew Bible is a story about God patiently putting up with rebellious Israel, in the hope that she would repent and acknowledge him. And the Gospel of Jesus Christ affirms that Christ died for us when we were sinners, not righteous (Romans 5:8).
At the same time, we should not brush the "God loves me because I'm righteous" passages under the rug. I think they're important because they assure us that God notices when we are trying to do good. Have you ever tried your utmost to do the right thing, but nobody seems to notice or care? Those who are compromising themselves morally seem to prosper, while you suffer despite (or even because of) your integrity. Well, the Bible assures you that God takes notice of your efforts and will reward you accordingly.
I also think that God has a special place in his heart for those who love him and keep his commandments. Sure, God loves everybody, but he is especially impressed when people make an effort to do his will. His love for everyone means that he wants all people to repent and avoid divine judgment, and he is willing to use warnings or kindness to bring them to that point (Romans 2:4).
But I don't think we should ever assume that God is indebted to us. Jesus says in Luke 17:10: "So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do." We're supposed to obey God because he's God, meaning that he owes us nothing when we do his will. But God does identify himself as someone who takes notice of our good behavior and rewards it accordingly, so we can have comfort that we are speaking to that kind of God when we're trying to do right in a world that seems wrong. Yet, even in those situations, God rewards us because of his goodness, not ours.