We are God’s poetry

In Ephesians 2:10, Paul says that

• We are God’s workmanship
• Created in Christ Jesus for good works
• Which God prepared beforehand
• In order that we may walk in them

The word for workmanship is poiema, from which we get the word poet. Good poetry is well-crafted. Other things like woodworking or sculpting also aim to produce beautiful things. Believers are God’s handiwork.

What does that mean for today?

How might we express being God’s poems in the world? In our families? In our work? In our church?

We could seek to show what handiwork God has made us to be inside.

We can seek to let others hear our poetry. The apostle Paul tells us how.

Believers are created, shaped by God, for good works in King Jesus. Christ is Greek for “anointed one.” In the Bible, the person who is anointed is the king, like David. Jesus is our King.

We were not created to say the “Sinner’s Prayer” and sit on the couch waiting for Jesus’ return. There are good works to do because we belong to Jesus the King.

God planned and prepared these ahead of time. If God has specific things for us to do, we can show our gratitude to God for new life by doing them.

God planned and prepared these in order that, for the purpose of, us walking in them. These are not activities to help us show off or build our reputation.

Walking in Scripture often means one’s lifestyle or general behavior. In Eph 4:1, Paul tells us to walk in a worthy way. That means living in a way that shows God has made us new and we live appropriately.

It doesn’t mean earning our status from God. It means reflecting in our lives what God has already done in and for us.

In Eph 5:8, Paul instructs us to walk, live as children of light.

This includes how we invest our time. We will need to “make” time for what God prepared.

Here’s one way to do these good works. Moses in Leviticus 19, Jesus in Luke 10, and Paul in Romans 13 all say, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” That covers a lot.

This doesn’t mean “feel warm fuzzies for one’s neighbor.” I don’t have to have a personal relationship with the neighbor. A common word for love in the New Testament is agape. Loving one’s neighbor with agape means to do things for the benefit of the other, whoever that is.

That’s regardless of whether or not our actions benefit us.

I might not feel like being a friend to my neighbor, but I can still act for my neighbor’s good.

God created us as individual poems for this purpose. How might you do that for a neighbor (co-worker, next door neighbor, someone who usually sits in the same pew as you each Sunday? The custodians that I often see at work when I stay past 6 PM? I haven’t figured that one out yet but they are people for whom Jesus died. They are my neighbors. Who do you regularly see?