You are correct in that ......"God gives us, His servants, works to do It's to feel better about themselves". The more we focus on others the less we focus on own on problems BUT that in no way can be translated into the Salvation process.
What you are proposes is actually the great serious errors that plague the RCC. Roman Catholicism, teaches that in order to gain enough merit for salvation, we must add our good works to what Christ did on the cross. Under this view, you can never know for sure whether or not you are saved, because there is no way to check your “merit balance” to see if you’ve stored up enough. So you have to keep adding good works in the hope of gaining eternal life. Under Roman Catholic teaching, a person could never say what Paul says in Ephesians 2:8, “
you have been saved.”
The correct exegesis of Ephesians 2:10 speaks directly to that error and I am so very glad you used it. Correct Bible understanding always rests on CONTEXT!!! In Eph. 2:10 Paul is explaining (“For”)
the previous two verses, which is where he has said that we have been saved by grace through faith, apart from any works on our part. It is all the gift of God, so that He alone gets all the glory. Now Paul further explains that… Genuine salvation is entirely of God and it inevitably results in a life of good works.
Good works is the product of salvation and is "FAITH ALONE" saves.
Paul said, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus….” “His” is emphatic in the Greek, underscoring the point that Paul has been making throughout chapters 1 and 2 which again CONTEXT demands is
that our salvation was ordained by God from eternity and that we had nothing to do with it. We were dead in our sins, but God raised us from the dead (2:1, 5). Just as God created the universe out of nothing by the word of His power, so God created us in Christ Jesus by His mighty power.
If we can see that the scriptures exclude works in any form as a means of our salvation, then logically, we are saved by faith alone. There is NO reason to believe what I say but I would encourage you as well as all Catholic believers to take a look at what the Bible says about faith and works.
Rom. 3:28-30..........
"For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law. 29Or is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, 30since indeed God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith is one."
Rom. 4:5......
"But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness,"
Rom. 5:1........
"therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ;"
Rom. 9:30.........
"What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, attained righteousness, even the righteousness which is by faith;"
Rom. 10:4..........
"For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes."
Rom. 11:6..........
"But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace."
Gal. 2:16..........
"nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we may be justified by faith in Christ, and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law shall no flesh be justified."
Gal. 2:21..........
" I do not nullify the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly."
Gal. 3:5-6..........
"Does He then, who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? 6Even so Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness."
Gal. 3:24..........
"Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, that we may be justified by faith."
Eph. 2:8-9...........
"For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. 9Not by works, lest any man should boast."
Phil. 3:9......
"and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith."
Again, works/Law is contrasted with faith repeatedly; and we are told that we are not justified by works in any way. Therefore, we are made right with God by faith--not by faith and our works, hence, faith alone......
Are we saved by faith alone, or do we need works, too? | CARM.org