Ephesians 2:10
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Every architect, engineer, and artist creates with a purpose. While beautiful in design, the building is meant for habitation, the vehicle created for transportation, and even the abstract artist of today paints with the hopes of inspiration. Created for a purpose, the designer finds his joy complete only when others can share in its existence.
You have been created with a purpose. God the Father took great pleasure in fashioning you from nothing more than the goodness of His hands. Even greater than your physical existence is the truth of your spiritual being. “Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come” (2 Cor. 5:17). While beautifully and physically created, your Heavenly Father takes much more joy in the “new creature” your spiritual being has been made into after salvation. This “new creation” that you have become was not fashioned with flesh and bone, but rather, “created in Jesus Christ.” I count it a shame that so many believers fail to understand the blessings of their new identity in Christ.
What joy does the most beautiful of buildings bring to an architect if no one purchases it? What sense of accomplishment can come from the engineer if the public rejects his vehicle? Is there any pride found in an artist upon realizing his painting will never sell, but merely be tossed away with the trash? Eph. 1:10 tells not only of your Creator, but His purpose for instilling new life within you. You have been created “for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” God your Father takes the greatest joy in you when you are walking within the good works that He created you for. Furthermore, you, unlike the building, the car, or the painting, are living and breathing. While non-coherent creations find no sense of worth in their existence, you have full knowledge of your every breath. The life of a Christian living outside the purpose of his or her creation will never experience complete joy and peace.
With the acceptance of Christ’s salvation comes the intention to live pure and holy lifestyles. The Holy Spirit begins His work within you and the acts of sin are no longer ignorantly enjoyed, but rather, committed with great conviction. Where true selflessness once was never attainable, humility is possible. The good works that you were created to walk in become a plum line for you to measure your life against. Verse eight reminds you that while these good works are now at the center of how you should live, they were absent in your salvation process. It was only “by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.” What an amazing gift it was! Have you began the sanctification process of learning to walk within the good works that God set up for us to live in? I remind you that this is what you were created anew to do. True peace, contentment, and fellowship with the Lord will never be experienced until you walk in His good works.