“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
Ephesians 2:10 (NIV)
Sometimes we look at somebody else’s calling and quietly conclude that their life has purpose while ours is merely ordinary.
Today’s verse will not permit that conclusion.
“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
Start with the word “handiwork.” The Greek is poiema, from which we get the English word poem. It means something made, a work of craftsmanship, a composition. Paul uses it only twice in his letters; the other instance, in Romans 1:20, describes the created universe. So the same word Paul uses for the cosmos he uses for you.
You are not a mass-produced item. You are a composition.
Now notice the verse before it, because Ephesians 2:8-9 and 2:10 must always be read together: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works.”
Paul has just excluded works from salvation as emphatically as language allows. Then immediately he insists we were created for good works. The reformers had a helpful way of putting this: we are saved by faith alone, but the faith that saves is never alone. Works are not the root of salvation; they are the fruit of it. Get that order wrong and you will either exhaust yourself trying to earn what has been given, or you will treat grace as permission to produce nothing.
Then the striking phrase: God “prepared in advance” these works. The Greek proetoimazo means to prepare beforehand. Before you existed, there were things God intended for you to walk in. Paul uses the picture of a path already laid; our part is to walk in it.
Before going further, a caution, because it can produce a great deal of anxiety.
This does not mean every detail of your future has been handed to you as a timetable that you might tragically miss. Some Christians live in constant fear of having stepped off “the plan” through one wrong decision years ago, as though God’s purposes were that fragile. They are not. He is sovereign, and He is redemptive.
We discover God’s will the ordinary way: through Scripture, which contains most of it plainly; through prayer; through the leading of the Holy Spirit; through wise counsel; and through faithful obedience in the season we are already in. That last one does more work than people expect. Guidance generally unfolds as you walk, not before you move.
And notice how broad the assignment is. Your good works may involve ministry, business, family, education, creativity, leadership, practical service, hospitality, or something that never receives any public recognition at all.
The size of the audience does not determine the significance of the assignment. That sentence is worth writing down. We live in a culture that measures significance by visibility, and the church has absorbed a great deal of that. But Jesus spent thirty years in a workshop in Nazareth and three years in public ministry. If we applied our metrics to Him, we would conclude that ninety per cent of His life was wasted.
In 1855 a Boston Sunday school teacher called Edward Kimball went into a shoe shop to speak to one of the young men in his class, a shop assistant named Dwight Moody. He talked to him about Christ among the shoe boxes, and Moody gave his life to Jesus. Moody went on to preach to vast crowds on both sides of the Atlantic. Hardly anyone remembers Kimball. Heaven does.
So the question is not, “Am I doing something impressive?” The better question is, “Am I being faithful with what God has actually placed in my hands?”
Jesus makes exactly this point in the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30). Three servants receive different amounts. The commendation to the man with five and the man with two is word for word identical: “Well done, good and faithful servant.” The reward was tied to faithfulness, not to size. And the one who was condemned had not squandered anything; he had simply buried what he was given because he was afraid.
Which brings us to the practical part. Pay attention today.
There may be a conversation God wants you to have, and you will recognise it because you have been avoiding it. There may be a person to encourage, and the nudge will feel almost too small to be from God. There may be an opportunity to serve that is inconvenient rather than impressive. There may be a step of obedience you have been postponing for months while calling it prayer.
The good works “prepared in advance” rarely arrive labelled. They usually look like ordinary opportunities that you could easily walk past.
One more encouragement. Note the tense: “we are God’s handiwork.” Present. He is not finished. Philippians 1:6 promises that “he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion.” You are a composition still being written, and the Author has never abandoned a piece.
One further encouragement about discovering your assignment, because people often feel stuck at this point.
Notice that the New Testament almost never tells believers to discover their calling before acting. It tells them to be faithful, and calling clarifies as they go. Philip was one of seven men appointed to serve tables in Acts 6; by Acts 8 he is preaching in Samaria and explaining Isaiah to an Ethiopian official on a desert road.
Nobody sat Philip down to discern his gifting. He served where he was needed, and God expanded it.
So if you do not know your assignment, do not wait for clarity in a vacuum. Serve something. Clarity is far more likely to find you in motion than sitting still.
Your life is not random. You are God’s workmanship, and there is kingdom purpose in front of you today. Walk into it faithfully.
Reflection
1. Whose calling have you envied, and what has that comparison caused you to neglect in your own hands?
2. What opportunity has been in front of you recently that you dismissed as too small to be from God?
Prayer
Father, thank You that I am Your handiwork, Your poem, and not an accident or a spare part. Thank You that I am saved by grace alone and created for good works You prepared long before I existed. Forgive me for measuring significance by visibility, and for envying assignments You never gave me. Open my eyes today to the conversation, the person, the opportunity or the step of obedience that is actually in front of me. Make me faithful with what is in my hands. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Declaration
I am God’s handiwork, created in Christ for works He prepared in advance. The size of the audience does not determine the significance of my assignment.
Pastor Ras
All Nations Community Church
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