The King Allots Specific Tasks
Ephesians 2:1-10
"And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God."
(Colossians 1:10)
Our passage makes it clear that although we are saved by faith alone, the faith that saves is not alone. It issues in works that God has had in mind for us from before time began. Ask Him what specific work He has planned for you.
Evan Roberts, the leader of the Welsh revival of 1905, wrote, "All workers, in view of the Lord's coming, should eagerly ask God to enable them to finish their own work ...They should pray against 1) all spurious work which God has not given them to do; 2) all work which they should have left alone long ago; 3) all work which is of the flesh and not of the Spirit; 4) all work which suppresses the Spirit or draws the worker out of the Spirit; 5) all waste work, which may be good yet keeps the worker from some higher service."
When we establish what work the Lord wants us to undertake, the Holy Spirit will give us the gifts necessary to fulfill it. Furthermore, we will go into it not on our own strength but in the "power of his glorious might" (v. 11).
INSIGHT
Remember that the need is not necessarily the call. Don't feel guilty about saying no to works which God has not called you to do.
READ THROUGH THE BIBLE IN A YEAR
Micah 5-7
Proverbs 23
Revelation 1-2
Ephesians 2:1-10
Made Alive in Christ
1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh[a] and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Footnotes:
a. Ephesians 2:3 In contexts like this, the Greek word for flesh (sarx) refers to the sinful state of human beings, often presented as a power in opposition to the Spirit.
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