213. God’s workmanship
Ephesians 3:10For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
God promises He will make us His workmanship; He has created us in Christ for good works. He has ordained even before Creation that we should live in these good works. And, as his workmanship, He is continually shaping and polishing us, and this process goes on as long as we live. When we die and rise again the work will be finished through the transformation process of death and resurrection.
It appears to us that the human decides to do a good work, or not, but it appears in this promise that God has before ordained the good work that we decide to do. Our union with Christ is so mixed that we cannot discern which one of us is actually doing the deciding and acting. Either way, the life we live is planned and designed by the Lord who saved us for His purposes.
The word for workmanship is actually “poema,” or in English, a poem, a beautiful work of art, sometimes translated “masterpiece.” We don’t usually think of ourselves as masterpieces, or beautiful poems; but this is how God thinks of us and what He is doing in us. The shaping, sanding, chiseling, and polishing may not feel so good at the time, but the end result is marvelous. The experiences of life are tools in the hands of a master artist. He knows what He wants to do with us; He doesn’t make junk; He doesn’t make mistakes.
Believing this promise helps me think differently of God and of myself; it helps me entrust myself into God’s hands; it helps increase my self-esteem; it helps me remember that God is doing some beautiful things with my life; it helps me see life in a more optimistic way and my future is bright; it helps keep me humble realizing that the Lord is the creative one who gets the praise for good works done by a sinner.
“I am a masterpiece!”That statement of belief makes me proud of my God and humble in myself.Jesus gets the praise and I enjoy the result. That’s grace, isn’t it? Jesus does the work and I get the benefit.