Manmoth

Prayer, fasting and almsgiving are pillars of the Christian life. The two scriptures you quoted are great examples of why this is the case.

To the original point though if I gave all my possessions away or helped my neighbor and "kept score" like a Pharisee it's all for naught. Works won't get you to heaven yet faith without works is dead.

Thank you Sigmund Freud.

The only issue is that obeying God is literally the best thing you can do for yourself emotionally or otherwise. It will give meaning, purpose and structure to your life, provide an instant community and, while we rarely shirk sin entirely, a Christian life can break how beholden we are to the sin and idols in our life. Drugs/alcohol, promiscuity, pornography etc All these things are abused in our culture and you can see how it affects us by looking at the state of things outside your window. Moral and cultural decay caused by pursuit of self instead of God.

Returning to church and committing daily to Christ is by far the best thing that's ever happened to me. God loves us.

I don't have to try. I fail without even thinking about it lol.

Because if it's really a gift, what's all this effort you're putting in to "earn God's favor"?

The life of a Christian is two-fold...

1. Trying (and failing) to live up to the teachings of Jesus Christ. He lived the perfect human life to sanctify our nature and model how we should live our lives.
2. Believing in the trinity and the resurrection of Jesus Christ

Living in accordance with the teachings of Christ is a requirement for salvation but not a guarantee. There's nothing we can do to earn God's blessing on Earth or in Heaven. The only thing we can guarantee for ourselves is damnation by rejecting Christ and the biblical revelation.

If I earnestly strive to live like Christ and believe him to be God. I will live a life that involves prayer, fasting and almsgiving. A generous life that helps others to the Glory of God. It is only after that life that I will be judged. God has perfect judgement and judges each person according to their means, understanding etc My hope is that God will examine my heart and grant me entrance to the Kingdom of God even though I am most unworthy.

I don't understand it so it doesn't make sense.

Democracy works by letting the people choose their leaders through voting. Not by murdering candidates before the people can exercise their right to vote.