August 16, 2017 PURPOSE
Ephesians 2:8-10: “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
A great blessing that accompanies our salvation is that of knowing that were created by God, and that we were created for a purpose. By knowing God, we are free from living a self-centered life, and are free to live according to the design of the one who created us. Our life takes on new meaning once we realize that we are His ‘workmanship;’ that God has uniquely created each one of us-our existence is no accident. In Psalm 139:1 we find this awesome truth: “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.” Concerning our salvation, we have no room to boast, because even the faith that we have for salvation is a gift of God. In all religions other than Christianity, one has to earn his ‘salvation’ (There is no salvation outside of Christ). The blessing of the Christian faith is that God reaches down to man in his lost condition, and saves all who trust Jesus as Savior. We were not created just so that we can go to heaven when we die; we were created with a purpose that we are to fulfill here on earth. It’s really simple, there is no room to debate-we were created “for good works.” The key is that we are not trying just to be a ‘good person,’ but we are to be doing the good works that God has already prepared for us. The reason for the good works is that because God is good, and because He is our Father, we too are to be about good works. We must remember that we do not do good works in order to earn His approval, but because we have been born of God, and because we are His children, we do good works. Life constantly presents the opportunity for good works; there are good works that have our name on them! Again, we are not to do good works to impress others or to give us something to brag about, but because of whose we are, we do the good works. Also, because we are His workmanship, designed for the good works, we find satisfaction and a sense of completeness when we engage in the good works He has for us. Because God loves us, and because we love Him, the motivation behind the good works is love-and because we love, we want to bless. Acts 10:38 tells us that Jesus “went about doing good.” The good works we do include giving of time and resources, speaking a word of encouragement, praying for someone in time of need, be sensitive to the needs of others, being dependable and trust-worthy, being quick to forgive-and the list goes on. Whether we give a glass of cold water to someone who is thirsty, or whether we pray for someone’s healing-God is pleased and we are blessed in the process. Let us remember that we are His workmanship, and only by living according to our design, will we find true fulfillment in life-that’s the way we are made!
Psalm 37:3 “Trust in the Lord and do good. Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.”
Blessings,
Buddy
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