God's Masterpiece

 

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:8-10 ESV).

 

As you know, I enjoyed woodworking. The picture I’ve included is a “before and after” of a candlestick I made on the wood lathe from a piece of Mesquite I chose from the woodpile. Kyle and I have the woodpile for both the fireplace and smokers. The wood came from some of the burn piles on a friend’s ranch. He needed to clear some of the land for planting more pasture for his cattle. The wood was scheduled to simply be burned as it served no purpose for his needs. Perhaps one of the most satisfying things about making this piece was the changing of a piece of wood designated for destruction into something of beauty and usefulness. Our reading today says we are like that in God’s masterful hands. We are God’s masterpiece; God’s workmanship; God’s handiwork; God’s creatures – we are God’s new creation in Christ Jesus.

 

But being so rich in mercy, in His gracious loving-kindness God loved us, and even though we were in the pitiable state of death because of our sins, He gave us life in Christ. Our present condition is irredeemable – for a fallen creature can never change – but when He raised Christ from the dead, God exchanged our old life in Adam for our new life in Christ, for when He died we died and when Christ was risen we too were raised from our state of death into newness of life.

 

We must never forget that it is only by God's grace that we have been saved. It is only by God's grace that we have salvation and we access that salvation - through faith. For by grace we are saved, through faith, and not of ourselves lest we boast for salvation is a gift of God’s grace.

 

But we have not been raised to newness of life for no purpose - we are made God’s masterpiece in Christ Jesus in order that we may be able to perform the good acts and good works, which God prepared for us to do, before we were even born. He has given us this new life to be useful. Just as no two things I make in my wood shop are “identical,” neither are we. God has designed and made us into these beautiful, unique masterpieces for a work only we can do. Don’t concern yourself with what others are doing… do what God has created you to do!