God's masterpiece

Ephesians 2:8-10 (NLT)

God saved you by His grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.  Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.  For we are God’s masterpiece.  He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things He planned for us long ago. 

If there is one passage in the Bible that best summarizes the meaning of salvation and the role of God’s grace and our faith in obtaining salvation, this is the passage.  Your salvation is entirely the result of God’s grace.  There is absolutely nothing that you can do to earn it.  How many times in my ministry have I heard someone tell me, “I am not yet good enough to earn God’s favor and be saved” or something like that.  Scripturally, such an opinion or position is absurd.  You’ll never be good enough in God’s eyes to be saved.  Look at what these words really say.  You cannot take credit for your salvation because salvation is not a reward for good things that you have done.

I know that when I was younger and not really interested in spiritual matters, the word “grace” bothered me in the sense that it sounded weak or overly religious.  Yet, as I matured, I realized how important and how awesome the word “grace” is in the Scriptures.  Grace means “unmerited favor” by God; God giving to you what you do not deserve.  What He gives is salvation to an otherwise doomed individual.  If you read Eph 2:1-2, you’ll see what I mean.  God’s grace enables you to be saved from eternal separation from Him and a way to escape from under the control of the enemy (Satan). 

This passage reveals that while God’s grace enables you to be saved, you must take the step of faith and believe in what God did through His Son, Jesus Christ.  Belief is more than a casual act of accepting what someone says or writes.  Belief is one component of faith that also includes confession, repentance, and obedience to God’s word (Romans 6).  You are saved by a faith that also leads to good works, that’s what the last part of this passage teaches.  Your faith leads to salvation and leads to good works.  The best way to think of good works is whatever you do to bear fruit in others’ lives.  Jesus said in John 15:8 that by bearing much fruit you glorify God and that is the main purpose for your living on this earth.

Have you ever thought of yourself, if you are saved in Christ, as God’s masterpiece?  That’s a wonderful thought, isn’t it?  Ladies, you especially are God’s masterpiece as there’s the old quote that says something like-- “God created man before woman, but you always make a rough draft before creating the final masterpiece.”  We think of masterpiece as a fine work of art, yet the Bible says that you are like that fine work of art if you have been saved by grace through faith.  How blessed and beautiful you are as a masterpiece of God.  May this thought and these words greatly encourage you and may you in turn encourage others.