Join Him

ByJim Stephens

Reading:  Ephesians 2; Proverbs 19

No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing. (Ephesians 2:10 MSG)

To get to this verse, I had to read Ephesians 2:8-9. It’s pretty outrageous, don’t you think? Read this: 8 Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish! 9 We don’t play the major role. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing! (Ephesians 2:8-9 MSG)

See, there it is! He does it all! It’s his idea, his work, his gift – all his! All I get to do is say, “Thanks!” when I realize what he has done.

This is hard to take for someone who wants to be proud of his or her accomplishments. This flies in the face of every religious attitude we have and every religious motive that drives us. This calls me to believe that God loves me because he is good and merciful, not because I am good and lovable. This calls me to accept that I am accepted by my Abba Father, before I have done anything good, while I am still in the darkness of my sin, and that nothing bad I ever do nor nothing good I ever do will make me more or less loved and accepted by him.

But here’s the other side of the coin, the rest of the story. He saved me—did what only he could do—for a Kingdom of God purpose.

Father God re-created me through Jesus Christ to join him in the work he does! There is a small but significant part of the work he is doing, work that is eternal and forever, that was created just for me, and I am created just for that specific work. I get to join God in the work he is doing!

Prayer:

Father, Thank you. I thank you with all that is within me. Thank you for loving me, for saving me, for adopting me as your child, for inviting me to join you in the work you are doing. Help me to find and do the very specific work—part of the work you are doing—that you created me to do. Please guide me to the one special thing that will fulfill my created purpose and make the most eternal difference. Amen.