Ephesians 2:8-10 NLT
[8] “God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. [9] Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. [10] For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.”
God never does anything without a purpose. There are no happenstances in His thinking. He created and chose people to put Himself on display and they were, first, chosen because of His grace.
What is grace?
Grace, like many other of God’s attributes, is difficult to define. Grace is God’s favour shown to us when we don’t deserve it. Grace is God’s goodness showered on us when we didn’t earn it. Grace is God’s mercy that saves us from eternal death. Graces is God’s way to change us from what we are, sinners, into saints, holy and righteous in His sight.
My thinking has led me to believe that grace is the motive that releases God’s power to work in us. Grace, God’s attitude towards us despite who we are and what we have done, underpins all His dealings with us. Grace guarantees the finished product.
God’s love, in turn, underwrites His grace. God’s essential nature, pure love, motivates Him to treat sinners with kindness and compassion rather than with the wrath we deserve. He acts graciously towards us, lavishing on us every blessing He can muster so that we become the children He designed us to be from the beginning.
Grace turned God from acting in wrath and judgment. Grace motivated Him to prepare a rescue plan. Grace sent Jesus into the world to carry out God’s plan. Grace gave Jesus the reason to obey and submit to the Father’s will. Grace moves the Holy Spirit, in tandem with the Father and the Son, to work out God’s plan in us.
As, John Newton sang,
“Amazing grace! How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found;
Was blind, but now I see.
’Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears relieved;
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed.
Through many dangers, toils, and snares,
I have already come;
’Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.
The Lord has promised good to me,
His Word my hope secures;
He will my Shield and Portion be,
As long as life endures.
Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
And mortal life shall cease,
I shall possess, within the veil,
A life of joy and peace.
The earth shall soon dissolve like snow,
The sun forbear to shine;
But God, who called me here below,
Will be forever mine.
When we’ve been there ten thousand years,
Bright shining as the sun,
We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise
Than when we’d first begun.”
(Amazing Grace
John Newton, pub.1779
v. 7 by Anonymous/Unknown, pub.1829)
Since God is always gracious to us, He provides the power and strength that enables us to do His will despite our weakness. In fact, the weaker we are, the better because His strength is perfected in our weakness.
Paul cried out to God to take away the issues that he could not overcome in his weakness. God had another solution.
2 Corinthians 12:8-10 NLT
[8] “Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. [9] Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. [10] That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
Grace again, grace makes a way possible in impossible situations!
Why does God lavish on us so much blessing and help on our journey through life. Again, He has a purpose.
The Greek word “poema”, (Ephesians 2:10), translated “workmanship” or “masterpiece”, really means God’s poem.
What is a poem?
“A piece of writing in which the expression of feelings and ideas is given intensity by particular attention to diction (sometimes involving rhyme), rhythm, and imagery.”
(Definitions from Oxford Languages)
A poem lifts ideas or descriptions from the ordinary to the sublime by using carefully chosen words and language skillfully arranged, to convey meaning, colour, and beauty.
Consider these words…the first verse of a poem by William Wordsworth – “Daffodils”.
“I wandered, lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.”
A word picture that arouses the imagination to see a field of daffodils in live movement and colour.
Now, according to Paul, God created us, by His grace, to be vivid expressions of God’s grace by the way we treat other people.
Imagine that! We, who were, by nature selfish, self-centred, greedy, hostile, and in competition with other people to get our own way, are now delivered from that nature and lifestyle by God’s grace. Instead, we are poems of God’s grace to others, treating them like He treats us, with love, mercy, and compassion.
And so, God is composing His poems and writing them into the big story He has already written. His poems add colour and beauty to His story. His peoms inspire the imagination of the people around us to read God into what they see and hear.
Paul called te Corinthians Church, God’s “letter” written to the world…
2 Corinthians 3:3 NLT
[3] “Clearly, you are a letter from Christ showing the result of our ministry among you. This “letter” is written not with pen and ink, but with the Spirit of the living God. It is carved not on tablets of stone, but on human hearts.”
The call to us, then, is to BE that poem, that letter, that the world can read. He wants the people who do not know Him to hear His voice calling them also to become poems for Him by His grace.