A Jay venturing into a yard where Peacocks used to walk, found there a number of feathers which had fallen from the Peacocks when they were molting. He tied them all to his tail and strutted down towards the Peacocks. When he came near them they soon discovered the cheat, and striding up to him pecked at him and plucked away his borrowed plumes. So the Jay could do no better than go back to the other Jays, who had watched his behavior from a distance; but they were equally annoyed with him, and told him: “It is not only fine feathers that make fine birds.”

Aesop. The Jay and the Peacock

Comment: Good works without faith are empty. We can strut around with the virtues of Christians, but if we don't have it in our heart, the truth quickly comes out. Then we are scorned by both unbeliever and believer as a hypocrite... but more importantly, God sees and is unimpressed by works that are not motivated by faith.

"Judaism does not focus so much on motivation as much as deeds. In Judaism, the actions speak louder than words, and certainly louder than motivations.” Orthodox Jewish rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, president of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews said, defending Israeli acceptance of Evangelical funds.

Federman, Josef. Israeli rabbis speak against ties with evangelicals
Associated Press
May 17, 2004. Christian News. Vol. 42, No. 20, pg. 3

Comments: Even the Jews would have to recognize in the commandments concerning coveting, that God is concerned about the motives of the heart, not just the actions.

When a person has already become a Christian, I may tell him that his toil and strife will now commence because he has faith. I must tell him this, not to make him believe that he is to get to heaven because of his labor and worry; for before a person can engage in the Christian’s toil and strife, he must have entered heaven, that is, started his heavenly conversation, here on earth.

Walther, C.F.W. 16th Lecture. Thesis IX: The Word of God is not rightly divided when sinners terrified by the Law are directed to their own piety
The Proper Distinction Between Law & Gospel, p. 162.

To be a good work pleasing to God a deed needs two characteristics: It must be properly motivated, and it must be in conformity to God’s will. The gospel provides the first characteristic, proper motivation. The law defines the second characteristic, conformity to God’s will. Lutheran teaching of sanctification carefully distinguishes the roles of law and gospel, but it also emphasizes the importance and necessity of each.

Brug, John F. The Lutheran Doctrine of Sanctification and Its Rivals. p, 188
Summer, 2004. WLQ, Vol. 101, No. 3

(Omaha, Neb.) After ignoring six years of prodding from the city, a woman is going to jail for having a filthy house. A Douglas County judge Thursday sentenced Rosie Fellman to 45 days behind bars for littering, with breaks every 10 days to clean up her central Omaha home. Trash and debris has been piled up to 5 feet deep in the house and garage, which are a health and fire hazard. At the end of Fellman’s sentence, the judge will decide if she has improved the home’s condition. If not, she could be sentenced to another 45 days in jail.

The city has ordered the home demolished, but Fellman, who lives alone, is appealing the order.

“If she doesn’t clean it out we’ll just tear down everything,” Denker (city’s chief housing inspector Kevin Denker) said.

Woman Sentenced to Jail for Filthy House
November 5, 2004. Associated Press – Strange News

Comment: Consider the judgment attached to a dirty heart? cf. Matthew 15:18-20 & I Corinthians 6:18-20.