Not by works but faith that works.
That we are not saved by works does not mean that we do not do works for/of God. Whether you want to translate works as obedience to God's moral laws, or in the sense of feeding the poor, helping the weak etc or even having helpful rituals like going to church every Sunday or praying and fasting in manner of routine. Our faith is demonstrated in these actions.
What we can't do is imagine that by doing these works, we have somehow earned some kind of cosmic points that we can place on some kind of cosmic scale such that it balances out with God's righteous standards and enables us to walk into God's holy heaven (fatherhood of God) as a matter of merit. That, my dear, is a fools quest. Only, by the work of Jesus Christ when He shed His blood on the cross of Calvary for our sins and on the third day rose from the dead do we who receive this truth, in humble repentance and with grateful hearts, find ourselves undeserving beneficiaries of such a glorious inheritance.
