“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.” (Ephesians 2:10 NLT)
We’ve been looking at the sacred nature of our relationship with Jesus that spills over into every area of our lives – not only how we worship, but how we love our families, carry out the duties and responsibilities of our respective jobs or careers, how we spend our “free” time, how we give expression to who we are as a person, our creativity, our uniqueness. It’s all a result of God’s thoughtfulness in creating us to be the person He envisioned we could be.
Here’s the bottom line. Unless and until we respond to Jesus’ invitation to follow Him and be born again of the Spirit of God, we’re chasing our tail. We’re wasting our life feeding the needs of our own heart and mind. But once we, as an act of our own volition, yield our life and allegiance to Jesus, we become a new creation, and are given a new heart and a new mind that’s capable, not only of hearing God’s voice and living a life that honors and pleases Him, but we’re also able to understand that every avenue and dimension of our being belongs to Him to do with us as He sees fit.
We’re not mindless “robots,” we’re chosen to be the special “masterpieces” designed and created to do what only we can do when filled and empowered by God’s Spirit. God is not a heavenly “dictator” who demands we do whatever He says. “Chosen” doesn’t translate as “mindless peons.” We’re fully engaged, intelligent beings who have a heart and mind of our own and who are given a will to choose God and His rulership in and over our lives or walk away and choose our own outcome.
God has created us to be His masterpiece so we could join in His activity on this planet if we choose to respond to His invitation, but He’s not going to force us to walk with Him. That’s the beauty of being His child, we’re not walking away from anything of eternal value. We’re walking into a new and vibrant and exciting opportunity to actually be what we were designed and created to be. But when we become God’s child, we must follow His rules.
“Whoa, wait a minute. You mean I can’t ‘do whatever I please?’”
No, not if you want to be God’s child. “God’s” child implies ownership. It implies rulership. It implies a turning away from following the dictates of our own will and desires and adopting God’s will and desires as our own.
Problems arise when we forget who’s in charge of our lives. To try to have one foot in the world and one foot in following Jesus is a little bit like being tied to four horses all going in different direction. It’s not going to end well. If you’re not ready to entrust your life to Jesus, that’s completely up to you. Walk away. Run to the proverbial “far country.” But if that’s your choice I will give you fair warning – it carries an eternal consequence.
You can’t have it both ways. You can’t live for yourself and live for Jesus, but understand there’s an expiration date for His invitation. It’s called death. If you go into eternity without Jesus, you’ve sealed your fate. There’s no second chance to get it right. Today is the day of salvation.
This moment is the only moment you or I have to make any decision. All past moments are gone, and no future moments are promised. I implore you to take Jesus at His word. Trust Him. Commit whatever’s left of your life to learn how to love, honor, obey, and serve Him faithfully.
I have, and my life is continually getting better!
Blessings, Ed 😊
Walking With Jesus 