God's Poem

“For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” ~Eph. 2:10

In Ephesians 2:8&9, Paul explains how to be born again. Then, in a beautifully worded verse, he explains why. The word "workmanship" here is the Greek word "poiema" (6141 in Strong's), which means workmanship, but it's where we get the word "poem." How beautiful to think of ourselves as God's poem's.

A friend used to tell me that if every one of God's children would realize who they are in Christ, they would never be depressed again. He said they would do much more for the kingdom because of that revelation.

Well, it took me six more years for the light to come on. I had lost my way and God blasted me with this verse. He hit me with a few others along with it. He was dealing with me and trying to remake my sense of self. I was stubbornly fighting Him and sticking with my pity pot. How many years of wanting to go hide in a cave somewhere or die!?

Here's another verse God used on me. It fits nicely with the first.

Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. ~Rom. 4:7

I can remember tangibly feeling God's presence in the room last year when He slapped me with this verse. What freedom! What life is contained in those two verses! It's like being born again all over!

It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery. ~Gal. 5:1

He set us free so we can be free! How strange that we all want some great theological reason that Christ set us free. Isn't that right, though? We all love to listen to some great Bible expositor give us all kinds of theological reasons that God chose to redeem us. With deep, thundering voices and great words they explain all the intricacies of what God was accomplishing at the cross. He was setting us free! Get that into your head: He set me free!

Now, I play for an audience of one. My stress level has gone down so much in a year's time that I wonder how I bore up under it for so long. It wasn't all me. I did come under a great number of attacks. The point was that I let too many of them worry me. Some you must worry with, and some you don't. Thank you Jesus for doing what you did, both at the cross and in my life!