Don’t ask me about mathematics, geography or science. None of which are my strong suits in life. Do ask me about life, I for certain will have something to say. I have ideas and opinions, I am far from an expert, but I make every attempt to live my own life with biblical principles in the forefront of my day and with the acknowledgment that I will one day stand before Almighty God and answer for my antics here on earth. There will be no excuses for any shoddy workmanship this side of Heaven.
Ephesians 2:10 KJV
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
Now, let’s get real. I am an epic failure most days. I guess one might say that I am an expert on failure. That often causes me to have mercy for mankind. And then sometimes my mercy is a limited human resource. Praise God, His is unlimited.
In this current era of time I am in the thick of politics. And I’ll just tell you, it’s a rock and hard place to keep a constant flow of mercy. People are stupid and I know for a fact that there is a sect that watches me to see how “The Jesus Chick” will react. And my ordained walk is sometimes with a serious limp.
So I take Paul words this morning, and before I get too far into my day, I look at his well spoken advice.
The Workmanship
“We” are His workmanship. All of us. Created with a purpose (s) in this life. I speak of it often because I know that possibly for the first time in my life, I’m where I God wants me. Shining the light on truth in my community and in the word of God. And unfortunately in that order which is NOT the will of God. My mornings should be first the Good News, then the bad news. But it’s not. I get straight out of bed and start my day producing what bits and pieces of news I have for Calhoun County, West Virginia. This is where I fail. I will attend meetings with fellow Christians and absolute heathens and I’ll just let you in on a secret, I more often than not like the heathen’s more.
His workmanship in me was to be a writer and an orator. The wonderful thing about the written word is it can be rehearsed again and again. And I do. I write it, read it, correct it, read it again, and often critique it before I put it out for consumption. (And still there is errors) But the spoken word, unless it’s studied and prepared (which I do for events), but in life can get you into a heap of trouble! Especially if you are passionate about the topic.
I am passionate about news. I love listening to news reports. I want the truth and I seek it from people that I trust. That’s tough. Because they’re are people I have trusted who turned out to be absolute liars! But that workmanship is on them. I am responsible for the workmanship of Shari.
Ask yourself this today, what were you created to do?
I asked myself, followed by Paul’s wordage “in Christ Jesus unto good works?”
The Works
That’s the result of the workmanship.
So God created me to be a “wordsmith.” I love that phrase. It makes me sound like I know what I’m doing. And when I write and speak with forethought as to what God would say in the circumstance, I’m not too shabby. But when I get in a big way, or I am trying to please or at the very least not offend man, that’s when I feel my report card in Heaven will say, “Needs improvement and talks too much.”
What brought this on? Several recent conversations with multiple people.
Have you ever tiptoed into a room with an old wooden floor. Creak, creak, creak. That’s what my conversations felt like. I was tiptoeing around what I wanted to say and I could hear the floor creaking beneath my feet and God saying “Spit it out Eli.”
I didn’t. I was created to share words, both mine and more importantly the Word of God but I failed because I allowed the flesh to cause me to be more concerned with hurting people’s feelings than God’s.
Ouch.
The Walk
On Christmas night 2023 I began staying with my Mother at night for fear she would fall. I also started making an attempt to get her to eat better. At the age of 88, her mind and her physical strength are weakening. I feel as if I need someone to stay with me, to make sure I’m walking upright and edifying myself on the Word of God.
Life takes a toll. The workmanship that God produced in me had no flaw, until the flesh marred it.
Ephesians 6:15 KJV
And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
The last piece of armor that Paul told us to put on is the gospel of peace on our feet. Why? Because our walk is critical to standing before a flawed world. People are watching and waiting for us to fail. I oblige more often than not. But today’s study reminded me that be it word or deed I need to walk worthy of my calling. You too have a calling. Let’s help each other
