Handiwork for Good Works
You are God’s handiwork. You are also the way in which God actively works in your tangible world (Eph. 2:10).
I have a fascination—and even maybe a holy obsession—with the biblical concepts of being both fashioned by God and fashioned for God’s good works. Would you take a moment to inform our brief contemplation of these amazing truths by reading Ephesians 2:1-10 for yourself? Seriously, click over and read it. You won’t regret it.
I don’t know about you, but considering these two concepts together is for me a bit like considering eternity, to which my son Jude says, “It makes my brain hurt.” In each case, they are truths that live beyond the confines of our finite human brain. They are incomprehensible, yet still immensely beautiful and it is critically important for us to continually grow our capacity for embracing them.
You were dead. Useless. A slave to sin.
But now you are ALIVE! Saved by grace. Totally redeemed.
This is true not because of anything you did to earn it, but rather the result of a costly but freely offered gift. As a result, there is no cause for personal boasting, but every cause for boasting in the magnificent power and grace of your God!
You are saved not because of your works, but because you are His handiwork and a recipient of the life-giving gift of His Son!
It is easy to read that amazing truth and conclude your works do not matter, but the sentence doesn’t even conclude before turning that instinct on its head. Read it again:
“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Eph. 2:10).
Your works are not what saves you, but the very purpose for your creation was to join in God’s good works, and He has even gone ahead of you to prepare them for you! Like Jude with the concept of eternity, the magnitude of this thought makes my small brain glitch a bit. God’s works are infinitely above mine, and yet He has chosen to reserve a specific part of His work for me. He has done the same for you.
My friend, there is only one conclusion to draw from this amazing juxtaposition: While God is certainly capable of being glorified without you, He desires to be glorified by you and through the works for which He has prepared you.
Isaiah 43:21 is my very favorite depiction of this crazy amazing reality: “The people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise.” Put your name in the sentence.
“I formed John for myself that he might praise me!”
“I formed Mary for myself that she might praise me!”
Wow! You were dead in sin, but no longer! Your God has brought you to life, and He has commissioned you for good works prepared specifically for you! There is no higher calling, so I urge with the utmost intensity, excitement, and anticipation to answer His call on your life!
You are His handiwork, you are redeemed through a power greater than your own, and you are invited to join Him in good works that transcend anything this world can offer!
The following article originally appeared in Thann’s “The Equipped” Weekly Newsletter. For more information on Thann’s weekly email, click here.