For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in…
- Ephesians 2:10
Do you know what it means to be the workmanship of God? In the original language, the word for "workmanship" is "poiema," from it, we get our English word "poem." When Pual says that in Christ, you are God's workmanship, he is saying that you are God's poem, His masterpiece, skillfully and beautifully crafted. Your new life in Christ is a work of supernatural poetry— no wonder CS Lewis called those in Christ "divine works of art..."
Friends, art is beautiful. Art is valuable. But more than that, art is an expression, a reflection of the Artist Himself. Think about that. When God says you are His ‘workmanship’, God is not bragging on you; God is boasting in Himself! It is impossible to praise the art without acknowledging the Artist!
No doubt you are beautiful. No doubt you are valuable and fearfully and wonderfully made. Of course you are! You are a reflection of the Artist, God Himself, the Author of beauty and wonder and grace. Is it any wonder that David cried out, "I will give thanks to Thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are Thy works, and my soul knows it very well" (Ps 139:14).
When Jesus died on the cross to redeem you, His redemption wasn't solely an act of God's love. On the cross, God was penning His most remarkable sonnet, a creation song, a poem of re-creation. Jesus died so that you could be molded into something beautiful. There was not much there before your faith in Christ; you were a blank page void of life. But now, in Christ, you are God's masterpiece. You are His poem. You are His work of art. Only when you begin to look at yourself in this way will you begin to understand God's indescribable goodness.
Only when you begin to look at yourself in this way will you begin to understand your infinite value in Christ.
May the poem of your life bring praise to the Author.
Press on,
Pastor Harp