Last week, we discussed that we are God’s workmanship or his masterpiece. This is because we are created in the image of God. When sin stained that image, Jesus provided redemption through the shedding of his blood to restore us to perfection in God’s eyes. By a simple act of our faith, we have been re-created or born again.
This re-creation has a very specific purpose. Ephesians 2:10 tells us that Jesus did this because he has an important role for us to fulfill for his Kingdom. We are created in Christ Jesus to do good works. Some may look at this and see a negative because it appears as if we owe God something and must work off the debt we owe for our salvation. However, when we understand God’s purpose, we see it is a huge opportunity and privilege to be allowed to serve.
We know some basic truth about the character of God. For instance, we know he is all knowing. There is no part of our lives, past, present, or future that God cannot see right now. His knowledge of us is so complete that he knows the number of hairs we have. We also know that God is all powerful. There is nothing that he cannot do. He created the universe by only speaking a word. That limitless power could accomplish any task in this world without the least bit of effort.
This raises the question, “If God is so completely capable, what could he need that I could possibly offer?” The answer is, “Absolutely nothing!” With this in mind, we come back to the truth that a characteristic of our salvation is that we have good works to perform which God has prepared in advance for us to do. Since God doesn’t need us to do this, it must mean that he allows us to do it. In other words, having a place to fit into the family of God is an indescribable blessing.
Think of it this way. I’ve mentioned before that my dad was skilled at many different things. To me it seemed he could build anything. When I was an early teen, dad put an addition on our house. I loved to be a part of this project for two reasons. One, I thought it looked like fun to cut and nail boards together. The other was, I got to spend time with my dad. So when dad gave me a tape measure and asked me the size of the board we needed, I couldn’t believe he trusted me with such an important task. Then when he asked me to cut the board, it was like a rite of passage. We nailed it in place, and it actually fit. I now know that Dad could have measured, cut, and nailed that board in place far faster than I did it. And it probably would have been a lot straighter and fit more tightly. But that wasn’t the point. Dad let me work with him as an expression of his love for me. I wasn’t out there with him because I had to be, I was out there because I was allowed to be.
This is what God is offering to us. There is no ministry in God’s Kingdom that he could not do better than we can. But that’s not the point. He offers us the opportunity to work with him and to experience the satisfaction of accomplishing his plan.
God has a place for each of us. Our roles are not all the same, but they are equally important. The Apostle Paul clarifies this truth in 1 Corinthians 12:15-20, Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19 If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body. You are important to the purpose of God!