I probably scrambled to the summit of my career as a poet in the eight grade with this immortal effort:
Who had a personal fight with a cat.
He hit the cat hard with all of his lard,
And knocked the little cat flat.
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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