Ephesians 2:10 “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk.”

Not only did God create man literally from the dust, but we who are born from a woman are handcrafted inside our mother’s womb by the loving hands of God, but this is even going further than that, we who call him Christ have been his from the beginning. He chose us long before we chose him. We are the work of his hands, and we are created to do good works. Not good works that keep us saved as many believe, but good works that he decided we would do a long time ago, good works that come from the overflow of hearts that are filled with his Holy Spirit.

There is a constant work being done inside of us that regenerates and sanctifies us along the way. Our nature and our actions are being molded and shaped by the hands of God himself. He is the constant presence in our lives that turn us this way and that way. His is the will that moves us ever closer to himself. Like a writer of a novel, God writes the pages of our lives and when the final stroke of the pen is finished, the work complete, our time here on this earth will end.

All our days are numbered, (Job 14:5) every heartbeat recorded in God’s book of life. Even when we misstep, it is within the bounds that God has allowed. His loving handprints are all over the believer’s life. We are God’s masterpiece. He lovingly pours himself into us, His sweet Holy Spirit teaches and directs us. We are renewed at every turn. The new man that begins inside of us at the time of our salvation is made for good works. His desire is for the things of God. Those desires move and direct this new creation in Christ in the areas of service that God has designed for them.

Some people think that if you do enough good things in life you will get into heaven or that God will overlook your sin. Not so my friend, we cannot do enough good to make up for the sin in us. We are dead in our trespasses and sin without Jesus saving us. Others think that you must do good works in order to keep yourself saved. Again, not so! We do not save ourselves and we cannot keep ourselves saved, it is all the work of God. (Ephesians 2:9) That is really the crux of this verse. God does the creating, God does the regenerating, God does the sanctifying, God directs our good works. It is all about God. The only boasting we can do is … to boast in all that God has done. It isn’t about us…really. (1 Corinthians 1:31)

I am so thankful to God for saving my soul. For continually working inside of me, moving me ever toward the cross and that final stroke of the pen.
If I were left to write my own story I would never get it done. I would get too weighted down with the storyline to move forward. All the small intricate details would be too much. And let’s face it if I were writing it I would most likely give me only good things, I would leave out the hard places, the painful places, the messy stuff. It would be filled with a bunch of fluff and nonsense for sure. But God writes it from the infinite depths of his wisdom and grace, giving me enough of everything to create in me a new heart and make me look and live more like his son, my savior Jesus Christ. His workmanship, His good works…perfect!