A Masterpiece Of His Grace

A Masterpiece of His Grace

We are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

Ephesians 2:10

In the days following Eve’s revelation that God had known her even before she was conceived, his Spirit continued to encourage her. No one else can be the person or fulfill the purpose I made you for. In fact, you’re a masterpiece of my grace. Your true identity is in Christ. When you find my purpose for your life, it will cause you to focus on me instead of on yourself. He repeatedly nudged her to stop comparing herself with others and instead to fix her eyes on Jesus and to pursue the passion he had given her for the medical field and missions.

As she studied advanced science and anatomy courses in nursing school, she became excited about how the human heart and lungs work. Wow, she thought, even with my physical limitations, everything else that could have gone wrong works perfectly. God really did make me “wonderfully complex.” (See Psalm 139:14.) She learned to avoid the comparison trap by seeing herself as the Lord sees her rather than as the world sees her and to value what he values. Finally, she realized the enemy uses the comparison trap to turn us into ineffective, self-absorbed, depressed people. She arrived at the place where she could see that the Lord had shaped her for his purposes. Even the medical problems and stays in the hospital she’d once regretted had contributed to her compassion for hurting people and her desire to serve in the medical profession. Now, as a pediatric nurse for children with chronic illnesses, Eve has an unusual understanding and skill that her superiors and her patients recognize. This is what I was made for, she has thought time after time.

Just as Eve discovered that she is a character in a beautiful book, you are too. God himself is writing the story of your life. And although you’re in the middle of the book, where you are to work hard to show the results of your salvation (see Philippians 2:12), be assured, dear friend, that you can trust God for the next step.

—CHERI

God, I struggle at times with the comparison trap, so help me to focus on you and to realize more and more my true identity in Christ Jesus. Thank you for being the author of my story and for making me with a grand design in mind!

Think of times in your life that made you wish for all the world that you had the power to make time stand still. . . . Something in your heart says, Finally it has come. This is what I was made for! —JOHN ELDREDGE, AUTHOR AND COUNSELOR