God's Workmanship

For we are God's workmanship, 

created in Christ Jesus to do good works,

which God prepared in advance for us to do (Eph. 2:10).

When I think of "workmanship," I immediately think of those who do great work -- carpenters, painters (both artistic and mundane), repairmen, teachers, seamstresses, roofers, nurses and doctors, lab technicians, IT managers, and so forth.  How greatly we appreciate those who are careful and knowledgeable in their work!  And how frustrating it is to be at the mercy of shoddy workers!

Recently, our house phones were knocked out by a lightning strike in the neighborhood.  The phone/cable company sent out a worker who could not find the problem, and who finally said we would have to call the home security people.  The home security representative worked for several hours on the problem.  First, he discovered weak battery connectors.  Then he checked every connector in the house, even those we have never used.  Finally, he found the one connector that had been fried by the lightning strike.  And presto! Once again, the phones worked!

We tend to think of God as having finished His work on the 6th day of creation, and now He is eternally "resting," watching us work and judging how well we do our jobs.  But St. Paul tells us that not only are we God's "workmanship," but that we are His "field," His "building" (I Cor. 3:9).  Jesus was a carpenter; I think He is still at work, shoring up the broken-down areas of our lives, doing finishing work on the rough spots, and knocking down walls to expand the narrow spaces of our souls.  He continues to plant the seed of God's word, and to water it, cultivate it in our hearts and minds until it bears fruit.

God is a careful workman.  He does not give up on us because we are resistant to His efforts.  He is not careless in His work, but "perfects all that concerns us."  He has taken up all the causes of our lives, leaving nothing unfinished.  That is why we so much need purgatory to finish what could not be completed in this life.  He cannot allow us to enter the presence of the saints with simmering anger or resentment or deeply-held grudges against one another.  His lovingkindness must search out every last bit of the yeast of sin that remains in our hearts, so that we might be indeed a new creation, created in His Image and Likeness (Jesus Christ).

I am grateful that so great a Workman has taken up my case!  It is as if I had found the best doctor in the universe to diagnose and treat my illness.  It gives me so much hope to know that mine is not a hopeless case -- because God Himself is working on me, and what is impossible for man is possible for Him.