If I were speaking to one of my youth groups, I might tell them, "Doing good is a fruit, not a flex."
That means you don't do "good works" to show off your goodness. The good things you do for God and others come from a true knowledge of God's work in your life. You aren't trying to earn salvation. You are responding to it.
John Wesley taught that, yes, even those who had not experienced justification could do good works. But, in the Christian sense, they would not be truly good works. That's because the good work we do as God's people stems from a living faith in the Lord. So, we don't do anything to show off how good we are, but to point to how good God is.
Don't think you're earning holy credit or even merely doing your good deed of the day. Instead, the time and consideration you put into serving God and others is an outpouring of God's love in your heart. Think of it as evidence that God's grace is alive in you. God planted grace within you and as you follow the Spirit's guide it grows into mercy and love. Or as we Methodists like to say: holiness of heart and life.
"So let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest time, if we do not give up" (Galatians 6:9). I wonder if we appreciate how important that word is. Doing right, or doing good, is soil work. The harvest does not appear instantly. That means with every choice you make to love, forgive or show up, you are slowly, but faithfully, sowing with the Spirit. 
As such, the good we do isn't about proving we're good people. It's about God forming and reforming our lives in Christ. So, don't give up the good work God puts into your heart. You don't have to prove how strong you are. Just rely on the grace at work within you.
Stay blessed...john | 
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