DEVOTION – DAY 339

Ephesians 2:10 “God’s Good Works”

Ephesians 2:10 “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

This verse is encouraging because the Greek word for “handiwork” means “work of art.” The apostle Paul tells us that every Christian is God’s handiwork – a work of art by God. Thus, no one should feel unappreciated, or overlooked, or unwanted. No Christian should have low self-esteem because God values them greatly. God had bought them at a great cost – by the shed blood of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ who gave up His life on the cross to redeem fallen mankind. That is how much God valued us. Having redeemed us, God offers us as gifts to His Son, as a new creation in Christ. God has redeemed us so that each Christian could fulfill his or her unique God-given purpose. God had already prepared good works for each and every one of us to do, to give Him the glory.

A woman spent her youth being attracted to other women. She felt ashamed and tried to keep her secret longings to herself. But as she reached adulthood, she found herself struggling to come to terms with her sexuality. Then, someone shared the gospel with her. She surrendered her sexuality and her struggles over to the Lord and for the first time, she felt an inner peace. It started a long journey for her to learn to trust the Lord and to live a life of obedience and abstinence that is pleasing to God. She felt God’s call to serve Him fully so she did her seminary studies. Today, she is helping other people struggling with same sex attraction, to follow a life of obedience to God and His Word. She realized that this was the good work God had prepared for her to do.

A young man felt unwanted because his parents divorced when he was young and he was brought up by a father who seemed distant to him. His father remarried and had other children. His father seemed to love this young man’s step siblings more than him. He sometimes resented that, causing him to be rebellious. Then, someone brought him to church. There, the Lord became the father figure he never had. He found the love he longed for in Christ. Later, when he became a father himself, he found many Biblical examples of fatherhood to follow, to be the kind of father he had always wished his own father was to him. He worked hard to be a good role model for his own children. He realized that this was the work that God had planned for him to do all along. He later went on to be active in children ministry and became a blessing to many children and youth. These are just two examples of God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works.

Let us pray: Heavenly Father, thank you for redeeming us and giving us your gift of salvation through your Son, the Lord Jesus. Help us to always fall in with your plans for us to do good works for the expansion of your Kingdom. We pray this in the holy name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Questions

  1. Do you feel inadequate of suffer from low self-esteem? How does being seen as God’s handiwork help you to reassess yourself in this light?
  2. What are some plans that God had prepared in advance for you to do as good works?
  3. How have you embraced these plans? Have you been active in carrying them out or have you been procrastinating?
  4. Why is it important for you to carry out God’s plans that He had prepared for you to do? Discuss.