He is for You!

Ephesians 2:9 makes it plain that God is very much for you. Salvation is
a gift that cannot be earned. He offers it freely out of his abundant grace.

He is for You!

"For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them."

(Ephesians 2:8-10)

I love the song "The Blessing" by Kari Job and Cody Carnes, and If you have never heard it or if it has been a while, take a few minutes, turn up the volume, and be blessed.

One of my favorite lines is the repeated phrase, "He is for you." God is for us. Let that wonderful truth sink deep within your soul. The God who created the universe and upholds everything by the word of His power (Hebrews 1:3), yes, this God, He loves you!

Ephesians 2:9 makes it plain that God is very much for you. Look at our biblical text for today, and allow the following words to remind you of how God loves you: "grace", "saved", "gift". Salvation is a gift that cannot be earned. It is not of our works or our good deeds, or we would brag about it.

God has an awesome plan for your life. Verse 10 tells us we are His workmanship. The Greek word translated "workmanship" is poiema, and it is where we get the English word "poem". The only other time this Greek word is used in the New Testament is in Romans 1:20: "For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made (poiema), even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse."

Here are some excellent explanations of this powerful verse:

"Believers are God's workmanship because they have been created (a work only God can do) in Christ Jesus. The purpose of this creation is that believers will do good works. God's workmanship is not achieved by good works, but it is to result in good works (cf. Titus 2:14; 3:8). . . . The purpose of these prepared-in-advance works is not 'to work in them' but 'to walk in them.' In other words, God has prepared a path of good works for believers which He will perform in and through them as they walk by faith. This does not mean doing a work for God; instead, it is God's performing His work in and through believers (cf. Phil. 2:13). . . . In conclusion, 2:1–10 demonstrates that though people were spiritually dead and deserving only God's wrath, God, in His marvelous grace, has provided salvation through faith. Believers are God's workmanship in whom and through whom He performs good works."

(Hoehner, H. W. (1985). Ephesians. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, Vol. 2, pp. 624–625.)

God loves us; He created us in His image; He is for us. True, we all have sinned, but those who trust in His Son to be their Savior and Lord, He recreates us and makes us His very own. We are adopted into the family of God. And each one of us is uniquely created by God to do good works for Him.

Tomorrow we will look at some ways we can do good works for His glory and our blessing.