God’s Workmanship in You

Peggy and I have been undergoing an extensive master bathroom remodel. A new shower stands where sinks used to be, the new sinks go where the tub once sat dormant, and we’re gaining a few more feet of closet space. It’s shaping up nicely, and it’s going to be great. Our contractors are truly craftsmen, purposeful in planning and exceptional in execution. Peggy and I have done plumbing work before, but not like these guys. We’ve taped, mudded and drywalled, but not to their standard. We’ve tiled floors and set cabinets before, but these artisans bring an excellence that builds only through experience. Yes, it’s going to be great, thanks to their workmanship.

Through His prophet Ezekiel, God foretold a remodel inconceivable to the human mind and of incalculable proportions: “I will give you a new heart,” He said, “and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart.”¹ This is not merely change for the sake of change, but to a glorious end. God continues: “I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.”² Then with His Spirit alive in us, we obey Him not only because we must, but because tender, responsive hearts absolutely delight in doing so.

Such transformation into the image of Christ is every bit as much an act of grace as is our salvation. We could attempt to change by our own power and wisdom, as though transformation were a “Do It Yourself (DIY)” project, but we would fall far short of God’s master plan for us. Paul writes, “the grace of God has appeared . . . training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age.”³ God’s grace—and only God’s grace—could bring about such change, for “we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”⁴ Like a master craftsman with great skill and purpose, God exceptionally executes His purposeful plan in us.

Salvation is only our beginning of new life. Let God strip away the old from you and build in you the new. Let Him sand away your rough edges. Rejoice as He equips you “to do every good work”⁵ and thus live an impactful Kingdom life. Give thanks for His workmanship. And enjoy the remodel.

Create in me a clean heart, O God.”⁶ Mold me as you must and always for your purposes and glory. Make me steadily more like Jesus. I am your workmanship, for which I am ever grateful. In Christ I pray. Amen.

¹ Ezekiel 36:26 NLT
² Ezekiel 36:27 NIV
³ Titus 2:11-12 ESV, emphasis added
⁴ Ephesians 2:10 ESV
⁵ 2 Timothy 3:17 NLT
⁶ Psalm 51:10 ESV