After his beautiful description of salvation by grace through faith in Christ, Paul then describes us as God’s workmanship.  The Greek word here is the word “Poema.”  It is where we get the word poem.  Dear friends in Christ, once we were dead in our trespasses, but now we are alive in Christ.  More than that, we are His poem.  By the Holy Spirit’s work through the Word, God has use of us.  He is the potter and we are the clay.  We are the work of His hands.

The movie Mr. Holland’s Opus tells the story of a faithful high school music teacher who always wanted to compose a great symphony.  But as life intervened, he would remain “just a teacher.”  In the final scene of the movie, the students gather to tell Mr. Holland the impact that he had on them.  One of the students said to him, “We are your symphony, Mr. Holland.  We are the melodies and the notes of your opus.  And we are the music of your life.”

Our heavenly father’s great, defining work is not the majestic beauty of mountain ranges, crashing through the clouds into the heavens.  It’s not the deep, deep blue of an ocean, alive with thousands of hues and colors of fish.  It’s not the great span of desert sand or the cavernous gorges.  It’s not the illumination of the stars or the fading of a sunset.  God’s defining work, his magnum opus is you.  He created you.  You are His beautiful masterpiece.  Out of things busted and broken, discarded or disgusting, worn out and worthless, God has redeemed them all and made use of them.  We are God’s workmanship.  Not because of us, but because of His grace.  There is nothing cheap about His grace.  The cost of saving us was Jesus’ suffering and death.  But it was the price God lovingly paid to be able redeem you and fashion you into something useful and beautiful in His eyes.

Paul specifically notes that we are created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God has prepared in advance for us to do.  Those good works are simply serving where the Lord has placed you and it the callings that He has given to you.  Together, our lives form a beautiful, symphonic response to what God has done for us as the poet Martin Franzmann wrote, “O Spirit, who didst once restore Thy Church that it might be again The bringer of good news to men.  Breathe on Thy cloven Church once more That in these gray and latter days There may be those whose life is praise, Each life a high doxology to Father, Son, and unto Thee.”  (LSB 834 v. 4)

Prayer – Almighty God, we give thanks to You that we are fearfully and wonderfully made.  You are the potter and we the clay, the work of Your hands.  By Your Spirit, conform our will to Your own and use us for Your high and holy purposes as your workmanship to serve our neighbors, community, church and world; through Jesus Christ, our Lord.  Amen.

Fraternally in Christ,
President Lee Hagan