If good deeds are required for salvation why did Jesus need to die on the Cross? Just start doing good deeds.
Yeah, these threads are a mess. So much endless nullifying the grace of God with the fatal “buts”. God has given us awesome “but nows” that don’t stimulate religious flesh, wherefore they are resisted!
To your point:
“I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is DEAD IN VAIN.” KJV
“I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ DIED FOR NO PURPOSE.” ESV
Galatians 2:21
Jesus’s death provided for our salvation as part of God’s plan.
However, we can either reject or accept salvation. As Jesus told us to follow His commandments. Love God and love our neighbor. That requires action on our part or works.
I don’t see that the pursuit of holiness in any way takes our trust away from Christ and puts it in ourselves. It seems to me that Hebrews makes it very clear that without holiness “no one will see the Lord” (Heb. 12:14). Why would the author say this? Because God is holy and, if we’re going to live with God forever, we too must be holy. So our entire life should be a pursuit of the holiness that Christ gained for us by his death on the cross. God desires to put this holiness within us, or as Hebrews 12:10 says, “that we may share his holiness.” That is the ultimate rationale behind the Catholic view of salvation: to share in the holiness of God. Nothing less will save us!
The rest of the article: https://www.catholic.com/magazine/print-edition/is-salvation-an-act-or-a-process