I love this passage!
"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." ~Ephesians 2:8-10
It is often partially quoted. I know this, because I am a person who often went around partially quoting it. The verse is speaking of us being God's workmanship, and that is the part I quoted. It is a true statement even if it is partially quoted, but it is more beautiful in depth when fully quoted.
Partial quoting of this passage would be saying that we are like a lump of clay on a potters wheel. God is the Divine potter who forms and fashions us, the lump of clay, into a vessel for His use. This is a true statement.
Then you look at the whole passage. We were saved by God's grace (Receiving something that we did not deserve). There is nothing that we ever did to earn this or that we can boast about that would have caused God to extend His grace to us.
Then the beauty of the verse is painted in the question that is implied at the end of verse 9.
Why would God extend such an offer? Because we are His workmanship!
It does not matter if you feel like His workmanship, you are.
God does not need you. God wants you!
Now I know this might have been missed, but let me say this again in a darkened font for emphasis...
God does not need you. God wants you!
You are His workmanship!
God takes us and through His grace not only saves us, but now allows us to grow in that Grace into what He made us to be! His hands once again touch His workmanship!
The molding process is unique for each one of us, and honestly I am glad for that. there are brothers and Sisters in Christ that have gone through things that I am not sure that I could handle and keep my sanity. The molding is at His speed and discretion.
In every case, there is a point of breaking. The vessel is never marred BY the hand of the potter, but it is marred IN the hand of the potter.
So if God is the potter, and He molds us... Why does the vessel become broken?
I think the best illustration of this passage in Ephesians would be found in the story of Gideon.
"And Gideon said unto him, Oh my Lord, if the LORD be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt? but now the LORD hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites. " ~Judges 6:13
Gideon was a man who was scared. He was hiding food from the invading army of the Midianites when God's angel delivers a message from the Lord to His workmanship!
There was some molding about to happen in the life of Gideon. The wall in his life was huge. God helped him around every obstacle in his path and led him to prepare an army. They were given two pieces of army issued gear to drive out the invading force.
A LAMP AND A CLAY POT
What???The strategy was clear. Surround the enemy and blow the trumpets. When the trumpets blow, you break the pot and the lamp inside the pot shines. Can you hear his army ask, "In theory this is going to work right? I mean is this something you learned in college?"
"And he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put a trumpet in every man's hand, with empty pitchers, and lamps within the pitchers. And he said unto them, Look on me, and do likewise: and, behold, when I come to the outside of the camp, it shall be that, as I do, so shall ye do. When I blow with a trumpet, I and all that are with me, then blow ye the trumpets also on every side of all the camp, and say, The sword of the LORD, and of Gideon.So Gideon, and the hundred men that were with him, came unto the outside of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch; and they had but newly set the watch: and they blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers that were in their hands.And the three companies blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers, and held the lamps in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands to blow withal: and they cried, The sword of the LORD, and of Gideon.And they stood every man in his place round about the camp: and all the host ran, and cried, and fled." ~Judges 7:16-21
Let me tie this together here.
So if God is the potter, and He molds us... Why does the vessel become broken?
Why did God allow the breaking that has happened in my life? If I am His workmanship that He loves so very much, then why does this vessel that looks itself in the mirror of my soul every morning see breaks and cracks?
I would like to make three observations about what I know of God that I see in this passage in Ephesians and the dramatic picture painted in Judges.
1.WE ARE JUST A VESSEL.
"But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us." ~2 Corinthians 4:7
Paul was reminding the Christians in Corinth that they were vessels that contained a treasure within them. The living Christ!
"But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour." ~2 Timothy 2:20
Again in Timothy, Paul makes the beautiful picture of us being a vessel for God.
2.GOD WANTS OTHERS TO SEE THE CHRIST IN US.
"The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe." ~John 1:7
"Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." ~John 8:12
"I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness." ~John 12:46
When Jesus appeared to Saul on the road to Damascus, He gave Saul the new mission.
"To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me" ~Acts 26:18
God intends for us to be a light to those around us. Jesus is indwelling the believer. God allows cracks in the vessel to allow the Light of the Lamp within the vessel to be seen.
What cracks have happened to your vessel (Life)? What has God been able to do in the lives of others because the Light streamed from those cracks? The book of revelation tells me that I overcome the enemy by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of my testimony!
Our testimony above all else stands as evidence to the future that the past has made some level of contribution.
We spend so much time trying to cover up and hide the cracks that God has allowed, when in reality it is the cracks that reveal the Light within us!
3.LIGHT SHINES BEST THROUGH A BROKEN VESSEL.
The fact of the matter is, if you have been broken then you have the best opportunity to shine The Light within.
The people that have demonstrated Christ to my life are the people that have been broken the most severe.
Crackpots for lack of a better word!
"For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." ~2 Corinthians 4:6
God takes us and through His grace not only saves us, but now allows us to grow in that Grace into what He made us to be! His hands once again touch His workmanship!
The molding process is unique for each one of us, and honestly I am glad for that. There are brothers and Sisters in Christ that have gone through breaking times that I am not sure that I could handle and keep my sanity. The molding is at His speed and discretion and He never wastes or destroys anything. He made you to shine for Him!
Climbing with you,
~Dan
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