“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:10
We live busy lives. And along with the busyness of life, we have a long list of things to do. We have demands at work. We have demands at school. We have demands at home. We have older parents to care for. We have younger kids to care for. We have friendships to care for too. We have bills to pay. And yes, we need to take care of our health because no one else will. In the end, we have so much to do that survival is maybe our only goal!
With this in mind, if someone were to ask us, “Are you looking for something else to do?”, most of us, without reservation, would say, “No thank you! I have more than enough to do already!”
So, what do we do when God’s word calls us to do more than what we are already doing? What do we do when His word calls us to do something that is not even on our “to-do” radar? Then the temptation is for us to say, “That’s not helpful…because it doesn’t help me accomplish what I want to do.”
Which hopefully causes us to pause a bit…and reflect…because…life…is not to be about…us. Life is to be about God. It is to be about doing His work. It is to be about accomplishing the things He wants to do.
The broader context of the above words say, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one my boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
This is not to say that the things that cause us to be busy in life are necessarily “wrong.” But it is to say that sometimes the busyness of life pushes out and closes us off to the things the Lord wants us to do. Like taking the time to forgive the person we haven’t forgiven yet. Like taking the time to lovingly speak God’s word of truth to someone who needs to hear it. Like taking the time to love our neighbor who needs it. Like taking the time to be more Christ-like so our lives point others to Him. Like taking the time to serve the Lord and His people at church. And like taking the time to first receive the gifts that Jesus has for us in His word and Sacraments, because that is where our ability to do His work begins.
This is all to say that God’s word is always helping us do the things that He wants us to do. All for His glory and all for the benefit of our neighbor. And in this way, God’s word changes our lives from being busy to being busy doing His work. Therefore, may our ears of faith always open to His word, because God’s word always helps us live for Him.
Pastor Tuma