For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Ephesians 2:8-10
Hopefully these verses are somewhat familiar to you, as they were one of our memory verses at Lifespring! There are many benefits to memorizing scripture, and one of them is that God can use scripture to speak to us in deep ways especially when we’ve committed it to memory. This has been my experience with Ephesians 2:8-10, where God has been using the verse to speak to me about the topic of purpose.
I think verse 10 has many good insights about what it means to live with a sense of purpose and calling. First, this verse says that “we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus.” What does it mean to be the handiwork of God? I think part of the meaning here is that we understand that we are created in the image of God, for the purposes of God. Each of us is created with unique gifts, talents, and abilities. We also go through experiences in life, good and bad, that shape our character. If we’re open to God, I truly believe that God can use all of these things that are part of our lives to serve God’s purpose.
So, what is that purpose? I think the remainder of verse 10 gives us some clues. We are “created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” We are God’s handiwork, created for God’s purposes, and that purpose is to do good works that God is already preparing in advance. This means that there is intention and care in the way that God has prepared us for His purposes. God has set out good works for us to do, and living with a sense of purpose means orienting ourselves toward those good works. These good works are connected to our purpose, our “why” in life.
But just as much as we may benefit from living with a sense of purpose, there are also forces that battle against this. One of the greatest challenges is mentioned in Ephesians 2:3, where it says,
“All of you used to do whatever felt good and whatever you thought you wanted.”
What this verse is speaking against is the desire to simply do whatever feels good to us and whatever we think we want. We can contrast this with the understanding that we are God’s handiwork. As God’s handiwork, we have a sense of purpose and a “why” that is given from God. What can derail this is the desire to create and achieve our own sense of purpose, our own “why.” Instead of accepting God’s “why” for our lives, we want to live for our own “why” and for our own desires. In doing this, we may completely miss God’s purpose in our lives because we are so distracted by what we want.
When is the last time that you asked God about your purpose? Or asked God about those good works God has prepared in advance for you to do? I would encourage you to ask this question, as it is so important and will enable us to live daily with a sense of purpose and direction – one that does not come from ourselves – but is given by God.