“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them” Ephesians 2:10
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
Whatever good works we accomplish on daily basis, we were able to do them because God had first prepared those good works and placed them ahead of us, and set an additional provisions in place, so that by means of those provisions, we would be able to do those good works He already prepared.
Every good works we failed to do throughout our Christian life, it was because we never relied on those provisions that were designed to equip the saints for the already prepared good works, which took place in eternity past in Christ Jesus.
Not all prepared good works will necessarily manifest in the saints. They will manifest or get accomplished in time only when we obediently rely on such provisions like the Word and His Spirit
The Christian good works were prepared in eternity past in Christ Jesus. It is then expected to manifest in us (the saints) in time and in reality. Christ was chosen before the foundation of the world to walk in good works that the Father had already prepared. In walking in such works, it became accomplishment or work in the sight of men.
The good works of Christ in time happened as He totally depended on the Word and the Holy Spirit. In the same way, if we take the same path of dependence on the Word and the Spirit as He did, those good works that God prepared before hand, or in the past concerning us, will “manifest” in us successfully.
Christ’s work or obedience on earth was not a surprise thing to God. What Christ did pleased the Father because what He did was exactly what the Father wanted Him to do when He was finally on earth. So, Christ was obedient to what was already planned before He finally arrived. So, His works both pleased the Father and glorified the Father just as we get excited for seeing our plans come true, or seeing our machines fulfilling the exact purpose for which we designed them.
If you ever forgave someone who hurt you as a Christian, or gave a substance to someone as a Christian, just know that that was exactly what God wanted you to do or act when He first planned for salvation in the past. So, He gets glorified by seeing you use His provisions to enable His works manifest in you.
But If you failed to forgive or support someone you knew needed help, thus failed to walk in the good works prepared in eternity past, you are the one who lost or would lose an opportunity in certain future reward that the LORD must have attached to those good works.
So when Philippians 2:13 says it is God who works in us(Christians) both to will and to do for His good pleasure, it is only confirming that, we are able to do good works because they were already planned or prepared beforehand.
However, if we were/are not able to do them, it is not because they were not prepared, rather, it was because we failed to use those divine equipments(like the Word and the Holy Spirit) to get the strength to do them.
As Christians, we can rely on God’s word and His spirit by faith, but He (God) is the one to cause us to do a certain the good works since we first obediently relied on His strength (provisions).
Therefore, as Christians, we should understand that every good work has already been prepared before hand and that all that God expects us to do is to just walk in them in obedience.
Yes, walking in a “prepared good works” involve the believer doing certain good thing that the scripture has already asked him to do, but it still does not make the act something new, it was already prepared before hand.
Whoever did a certain good work was able to do it because it( that good thing, behaviour, attitude, love, etc) was first prepared and the equipment or whatever divine assets for such work was also first made available to that believer…..Having this understanding will save us from thinking that we are doing something new, or something by our own strength, no!
We can only allow ourselves for whatever was already planned in the past to manifest in us. This is why we are His workmanship and as a result we should be careful to engage in good works (Titus 3:8). There are many more good works awaiting us to accomplish by means of God manifesting them in us. Shalom!
Cyprian Antwi Awuah 