Made For This
Key Scriptures: Ephesians 2:10
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Acts 17:22-26
So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. 24 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, 25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. 26 And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place.
Psalm 139:13-18
For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. 14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. 15 My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. 17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! 18 If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you.
Summary: Loving God with our heart, soul, mind, and strength and loving our neighbors as ourselves isn’t just something that we are called to do; we were created for this very reason, and we will never truly live until we are living for what we were created to live for.
Lesson One: God established the time and place where we would live.
In eternity past, God established when and where in the history of time we would live because there are specific neighbors that he intends for us to love.
Lesson Two: God formed the days of our lives.
In eternity past, God carefully planned each day of our lives for his purposes. Just as a potter molds and shapes the clay on his wheel, God took the unformed substance of our lives and shaped them for his glory.
Lesson Three: We are God’s workmanship.
The Greek word for workmanship is poema—where we get the English word, poem. Before the foundations of the world, our lives were shaped into a beautiful work of art designed to exist in a loving relationship with God and each other.
Lesson Four: We were created in Christ Jesus to love our neighbors.
Sin marred God’s original creation, but God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love for us, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our transgressions. We were created new, in Christ, for the good works of loving God and neighbor.