What difference does belief in God make to my daily life?

The first question is whether God exists, not whether we need Him. If He does, it changes a great deal. Whoever knows that God sees even their inner self and that they will answer to Him lives more honestly, and their life gains meaning.

The question is understandable, but it puts the cart before the horse. Whether God exists does not depend on whether we need Him. If He exists, He exists regardless of our wishes. So the first thing to settle is whether He exists. If He does, we owe Him our whole existence, and we will return to Him. Then everything changes.

An example from working life makes this concrete. A company that employs someone has hardly any way to truly test their loyalty. Someone clever enough can cheat quietly for a whole lifetime. If they believe that no one sees their inner self and that death will rescue them from any reckoning, there is no deep reason for them to be honest.

This is exactly how wrongdoing arises. Those who do wrong usually believe it will go unseen. Before the hand does something wrong, the heart has already grown used to it. The more a society loses sight of God, the surer it feels that it can get away with wrongdoing, and the further it spreads.

Someone who knows that God knows even their thoughts lives differently, even when no human being is watching. The hadith above describes this awareness. It makes a person honest in small things, at work, in the family, in dealing with money.

And it gives life meaning. Without God, the question remains in the end of why we are here at all. Faith answers it, and that answer accompanies us from the moment we get up until we go to sleep.