Poem

"For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them."
Ephesians 2:8-10

Being somewhat of a writer myself, I know what it is to labor over a piece you are writing, and to pour yourself into it, until the finished piece is created. That is what God has done for us. He has poured Himself into us...He has created us and we are His workmanship. The word in the original language there is the word from which we get our word "poem." I don't know about you, but when I was in school, and had to write some kind of poem for English class, I put a lot of time and work to make sure it fit the iambic pentameter and all words rhymed, according to the A-B pattern. What was created was, well, beautiful (to me, at least). A poem. And of course I wanted to show everyone I could. "Look what I wrote!" was what I would say as I eagerly showed it off. Beloved, as believers, God says to the world, in essence, "Look what I made!" as He shows us off to the world. And we, being His workmanship, do good works in the world, we walk according to the call to which we were called: to be children of the light. His light.

But being God's workmanship, something that He labors over and shows off to the world, has this as the foundation: that we were saved by grace. Grace is when we get something we don't deserve. Mercy is not getting what we deserve, and grace is getting what we don't deserve. We deserve death, for the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23), and all of us are sinners (Romans 3:23), but we don't get what we deserve. That is God's mercy. Instead, because of the love of God, and what Jesus Christ did on the cross for us by paying the price that we owe, we get eternal life. And that is grace. Getting what we don't deserve. Paul tells us here in Ephesians, that we are saved by grace, through faith in Jesus Christ.

One more thing: this grace by which we are saved through faith in Jesus Christ is a gift. It is the gift of God. As little children, we try to be good so that we will get good presents at Christmas time. I remember that I was told that if I were not a good little boy, that I would get a lump of coal in my stocking (for some reason I am still told this, even to this day). But a gift cannot be earned. Ever buy something for a spouse or friend, just because? Well, "just because" God loved us, He gave us the gift of salvation. It cannot be earned by us or bought by us. Our salvation was blood bought with the blood of Jesus Christ. There is nothing you or I can do to earn it. We can never be good enough. When Jesus cried out on the cross, "It is finished!" Indeed it was. Nothing more was needed. We are saved by grace, and it is the gift of God. And now, we are His workmanship, His poem, to show off to the world by our walking in the light as He is in the light. We are a poem. Amen.