God's Handiwork

Many of us stumble through aimlessly. Ever searching for an identity. Searching for the meaning of life. The answer doesn’t come from this world. The answer comes from God. We all have a purpose in life and many times we are left thinking we don’t. Life is much more than what is here on earth. The apostle Paul provides a wonderful description of our life in his letter to the Ephesians. “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).

The key to finding our purpose in life is understanding how we got here. Paul tells us that we are God’s handiwork. In other words, we were created by God. We are here because God decided we would be. I believe there is more to being God’s handiwork than we were created by God. Handiwork is any work, craft, or product made skillfully by hand. It’s not just that God created us. As God’s handiwork we were created by the very hands of God. God skillfully created us with His hands and breathed His breath into our lifeless form to give it life. Being God’s handiwork is significant. It gives a personal touch to our existence. We are not just created beings, we are skillfully made by the hands of God.

We were created in Christ Jesus to do good works. We were created to be in a relationship with Jesus. The gospel of John says, “In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.” (John 1:4). Our life is in Jesus. Without Him our life is dark and we look to ourselves to define our purpose. But our true purpose is in Jesus, and the doing of good works. In Jesus we are given the task of doing good works. Building, encouraging, supporting, helping others. We weren’t created to do selfish things. We were created for good works in Christ Jesus. We were created to do good things for others. We still have to take care of our needs, but that isn’t our only responsibility. 

Lastly, God knew before we were born the plans He had for us. God didn’t create us and then sit back thinking what to do with us. God knew before His plan for our life. He didn’t create us to stumble through life. Before we were a twinkle in our parents eyes God knew us and He had our life planned out. In fact, God has always known us. God created the heavens and the earth with us in mind. We have always been on God’s mind. Before we were born, God had a plan and a path through life that He personally planned out for us. 

We are skillfully made by the hands of almighty God. Made in Christ Jesus to do good works. God knew from the beginning of creation what He planned for our life.