I probably scrambled to the summit of my career as a poet in the eight grade with this immortal effort:

Kind of brings tears to your eyes doesn’t it, filled with deep symbolism and hidden meaning as it is? I’ve never again been able to climb those lofty heights of creativity.

Did you know that God is a poet? Have you ever read any of his gems? Listen to this:

“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.” (Eph. 2:10, New Living Translation)

The word poiēma in Greek is translated as “masterpiece” here. We get our English word “poem” from it. Other versions render it as, “handiwork” (NIV), or “workmanship” (NKJV). The Message simply paraphrases it like this: “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.”

Whether you’re talking about “masterpieces” or “poems,” poiēma represents something that God took a lot of time and care to get right. Can you imagine God leaning forward at His heavenly desk working to create you, the poem you are, the work of art that you are. He writes down a line then erases it. The rhythm sounds a bit off. (He’s probably using an ink pen writing calligraphy instead of using a computer).

Then a word in the poem doesn’t quite carry the power that He desires, so He scratches it out and walks around the room a few times, thinking, looking for just what He wants to say. Suddenly He has it and He runs back to write it down before it gets away.

The result is … David, and Johnny, and Ralph, and Judy, and Phyllis, and all of us. God’s masterpieces, the work of a master craftsman.

A poem pleases us but actually God created you to do more than lay there or sit there and look pretty. Maybe we’re more like a tool than a poem. He created us to carry out His will upon the earth and He uses us to do it. Do what? Well …

“Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13 Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.” Rom. 12:9-13, NIV.

If you’re really wanting to know how God wants to live through His workmanship read the rest of Romans 12. It’s simply powerful.

You’re not an afterthought as far as God is concerned. He made you for a reason, to carry out His purposes on the earth. My advice to you (and me): Get busy! Like I said last week, we certainly don’t earn our salvation but Ephesians 2:10 cries poignantly that if we are saved we’ll be busy expressing God’s heart through the way we live and serve others.
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 Hmmm…

Christ did not say “Learn from Me to perform miracles.” Although He Himself performed miracles by His own power and wished that his disciples do so in his name. But he said simply: “learn of Me that I am meek and humble in heart.”
~ Angela of Foligno ~

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I’ve been at a pastor’s convention this week. The other morning my roommate lost his cell phone so I loaned him mine, he dialed the number and from a dark corner of the roomed came a, “bzzzz … bzzz … bzzz!”

It wasn’t a bumblebee but the missing cell phone.

Somebody ought to find a way to do that for everything. With the tiny inexpensive computer chips that are available today why not put one in your car keys? Lose them? Dial 1234 and “buzzz!” There they are in the garbage disposal, just where your two-year old put them.

Wouldn’t it be great if you could dial 4321 and your missing sock would start buzzing under the bed? Or pacifiers? Why not pacifiers? If I had a nickel for every minute, every frustrating minute, I spent looking for pacifiers when our three were little, I would have already retired a rich man.

Pacifier lost? No problem, you just call it and it starts ringing. Or even better, what if you had it set up to play Beethoven’s Fifth symphony? You press a button and suddenly from under a chair you hear, “Dah, dah, dah dum! Dah, dah, dah, dum … dah dah dah dum, dah, etc.

And admit it. Wouldn’t it be funny to set off the pacifier while the little darling was chomping on it? My wife would have fussed at me but it would have been worth it. And it might help the sweet thing give it up quicker.

Or how about this? What if God had a “buzzer” in our heart and every time we got lost or strayed off the path: “ta da da dum!” or “buzzzzz!”

You know, I’m not sure that He doesn’t have something like that.

Prov. 1:22 “How long will you who are simple love your simple ways?
How long will mockers delight in mockery
and fools hate knowledge?
23 Repent at my rebuke!
Then I will pour out my thoughts to you,
I will make known to you my teachings.
24 But since you refuse to listen when I call
and no one pays attention when I stretch out my hand,
25 since you disregard all my advice
and do not accept my rebuke,
26 I in turn will laugh when disaster strikes you;
I will mock when calamity overtakes you—
27 when calamity overtakes you like a storm,
when disaster sweeps over you like a whirlwind,
when distress and trouble overwhelm you.

28 “Then they will call to me but I will not answer;
they will look for me but will not find me,
29 since they hated knowledge
and did not choose to fear the LORD. (NIV)

Are you slipping away from God? “Bzzzz! Ta, da, da, dum!” Listen.

And if you respond when He calls there’s a tremendous promise just for you:

 

“When you call on me, when you come and pray to me, I’ll listen. “When you come looking for me, you’ll find me. “Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I’ll make sure you won’t be disappointed.” God’s Decree. “I’ll turn things around for you. (Jeremiah 29:12-14, The Message)

If your heart’s “ringing” answer! Getting found is the best thing that can ever happen to you.

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Hmmm…
Dr. Ben Carson is a world-renowned Professor of Neurosurgery, Oncology, Plastic Surgery, and Pediatrics at Johns Hopkins University. Not bad for a child that was raised in extreme poverty by a single mother. He said “Everything changed when I began to read. I started to see myself as a smart person who could learn anything. The whole world opened up to me.” From Michael Hyatt’s blog.

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What have you been reading lately that’s helped you? Share it with other Coffee Stains readers. Send me an email and I’ll share it: david.porter@agmd.org