Work It Out: Identity to engagement

It’s the end of the second week of 2024 and by now the reality of a new year has fully set in and hopefully you’ve effectively reflected on 2023 and you are fully ready to embark on this new journey. I love the New Year season, this first month where things just kind of quiet down for a bit as everyone plans and plots how they will make this year work for them. A time when hopefully, we are honest with ourselves about how we have truly lived our lives in the year gone and aren’t just willing to make new plans, but to reconcile where necessary.

As part of my reflection I usually ask God for a point of focus for the year, it’s something I’ve been doing since my early twenties and I have found it to be one of the most effective approaches for strategically planning my new year. Usually I find myself drawn to scripture and from the exploration of the word I would use a word or phrase to help me remember the focus for the year. This word or phrase then guided my study, my introspection and my expectations. I’m not saying everyone needs to do it like that, this is how it has worked for me and each year it has either reflected where I’ve been or where I’m going and has been a source of encouragement and direction; specifically focused on my spiritual life. I’m revealing part of my process here because this year I feel the word “workmanship” echo in my heart. It actually stood out to me from a message my husband preached last year and I know that this year, this word isn’t just about me. See this word and it’s corresponding passages in the word of God, gives a picture of process and this process is what I want to share here with you. This will guide my focus on the blog this year as well.

The main passage I studied as I explored the concept of “Workmanship” was Ephesians 2:1-10 and I’m going to walk you through this here to start:

Study of Ephesians 2: 1-10

Who we were:

1. Dead (in treaspasses & sins)
2. Followers (of the course of this world & the prince of the air
3. Walking among those who disobey in faith and practice (sons of disobedience)
4. Living in the passions of our flesh
5. Carrying out the desires of mind and body
6. Natural identity: children of wrath (an innate corruption)

This gives a sense of no control, a naturally occurring pattern of living. Unable to help oneself. The dead can’t make themselves alive. Why is this important for us to know when it comes to Christian living? If one is a Christian then it is assumed that one has moved from spiritual death to life, however, in life and faith it is good to know where one has come from. Our history gives us a good picture of our potential weaknesses, strengths and enables us to have compassion towards those who might be where we once were.

Who God is:

1. Rich in mercy
2. Loving

Why God responded:

1. Because he loved us

What did God do:

1. He made us alive with Christ
2. Raised us up
3. Seated us in heavenly places in Christ

Why did he do it this way:

1. So he can continue to show us his grace in times to come

Again we see the theme of no control, only this time, our sinful nature is acted upon by a more powerful and loving God. The “made alive” can’t take the credit for being alive. God gets the glory for the gift He gave. We cannot boast in ourselves (that’s natural to our original nature), we can only boast in him (1 Cor 1:26-31).

Who are we now:

1. His workmanship (Eph 2:10) – of his making, his spiritual creation.

Here we find that we are not who we were before as a result of what God has done for us and in us. This is where the process begins, with a shift in identity, we no longer identify with our original nature, which was dead to God, but we identify as who God says we are and what he has done for us.

What is the purpose and call of the person now made alive in Christ :

1. Good works

What does preordained good works mean:

That God has prepared the work for each of us before hand, to fulfill his good will and purpose. He knows the work, the time and way in which it will be done best. And he makes us ready, providing us with opportunities to develop what we need to do the work and he provides the opportunities to do the work. (Jn 15:16, 2 Tim 2:21). This is the latter part of the process that I like to call engagement.

How are we to relate to good works?

1. Walking in them, not depending on them for salvation.

Application:

As a justified person, saved by grace, am I walking in purposeful good works? Am I using good works to feel justified or am I truly saved by grace through faith in Christ Jesus?

Salvation is not something we can fake or make happen on our own. God has already, through his love, acted upon the destructive motion of sin by presenting us with his son, the only way to him, wherein we come alive.

Foundations of Christian living are: knowing ourselves, who we were and who we are in Christ. Knowing God: his heart towards us and what he has done, and putting our faith in Christ alone for salvation.

The core of Christian living is identity. Recognizing our state and submitting our will to God, so we can come to a deeper knowledge of him and ourselves.

Workmanship comes before good works; identity comes before engagement.

If you are in a place in your life where you feel stuck spiritually and you want to do something about it this year, you want to step into engagement, you believe there is more you can do with your life? the bible tells you where to start. Start with Jesus. God has done all the ground work, this free gift is already made available, all God asks is that you believe in the one through whom it was given, our Lord and savior Jesus Christ, the anointed one. Start there for 2024, if you’ve already committed your life in faith to God but you’re still struggling with the engagement part, still revisit what I like to call your “basic package”, who you are in Christ and what God has done because of who He is. Identity comes before engagement, and sometimes we can lose ourselves along the way. You might be feeling lost, like you’re not entirely sure who you are, who you’re supposed to be, your life might be in a mess because of that confusion; come back to your basic package.

If any of these resonates with where you are at right now or where you’ve been, stick around with us this year. Your engagement is important.

Share this with someone who might like to read it and let’s pray it gets to someone who needs it.

Be a blessing,

Kelly PW