Gene’s 7 iron is made for approach shots to the green, and when he connects it with the golf ball – using just the right technique and torque – that club makes his game.
Smart phones are just one example of today’s technology, where programmed instruments think for us. Many users haven’t even begun to understand or utilize the vast number of features available, not to mention the millions of apps that make life easier.
“ACHOOOO!!” Spencer’s allergies begin acting up so mom gives him his daily dose of antihistamine meds. The right amount at the right times helps control his symptoms.
What seem like everyday items such as a golf club, a phone, or a pill have actually been designed and engineered by multiple teams of experts over years and years of development, experimenting, and testing. These items, in a sense, do the work for us. We simply put them into use, and they do what they were designed to do.
You are designed just that way, too. A special creation of God’s workmanship, God built you by his grace in Christ Jesus. No faulty components linked to sin or shame. No missing connections because of what you’ve failed to accomplish. No second-class parts trying to skimp by cheaply. God’s grace is his best gift.
Faith puts that gift to use. The golfer may boast about his approach shot but believers don’t boast about grace, or even our faith, because it all comes from God. Oh, sure, we have work to do much like a phone is purposed to do work and not just sit idly hooked up to a charger all day. As a matter of fact, God has paved a path for us to walk so that even our choices, our behaviors, and our plans are his work, too.
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:8-10).
May the “done” of justification be the source, the power, and the delight for your “doing” of sanctification. God is at work with you, for you, and through you. You were made for this!
PRAYER: Thank you for your grace, God, through the work of your Son, Jesus Christ. I believe it is already done, and I now live with certainty that I am saved, forgiven, and loved by you. Keep working in me to put my faith to work. Amen.
FURTHER MEDITATION: Grace. Faith. Works. Meditate on these. Why is it important for your spiritual life to keep them in that exact order?