"We have become His poetry.." Ephesians 2:10 (TPT)

The beauty of Christ is evident by who we are in Him.  Are our lives poetry or a poem written with words which describe and speak for all that He desires in life?  This is actually just artistic license, the Greek word translated “workmanship” or “masterwork” in other translations more accurately defines the greek word.  But the conceptualization still holds true, God did create a script or plan for us to follow as our destiny for each of us in Jesus, that part is absolutely true and beautiful to behold.

I am thankful that I don’t have to figure out the details of my walk with Jesus and plan out everything that my future holds, that would be burdensome and overwhelming. I have a general idea of the direction He wants me to go and I can walk that path which I believe is my destiny. I can still be redirected and refocused when I veer off-course in a direction that was not meant for me to go when I sense I am going in the wrong way.  That part of walking with Jesus is not fixed but fluid and requires flexibility to be ready to change course when told to do so.

You see, herein lies the problem, I do not like change, most people don't.  I prefer familiarity and sameness in my walk with Jesus, I like it when it is a comfortable place and what I can expect with the predictable outcome of most of my encounters.  I sense an uneasiness building inside of me, an awareness that God is taking me to a deeper level of relationship with Him, a place where I am no longer comfortable and cannot predict the outcome of my encounters.  It is in this place of relationship with Him that I am required to place all of my expectations of what I think God should do, and who He should be on the altar of sacrifice to be burned up with all of the other things which He wants me to give up. That is the place of trusting by faith.

Part of being God’s “workmanship” or “masterwork” is knowing when the 'phrasing' of the poem or script of my life reaches a defining point, a place where the description veers off into a direction what seems to be different than the original work of God had begun in the past, the future seems different and causes me to be uneasy and disquieted because I am unfamiliar with it.  

These defining points are painful to understand and at times are difficult to maneuver, but they are necessary for my growth and change, it is growth and change that He desires in me, not becoming comfortable or complacent. 

Jesus is like a good Father who always loves us and leads us in ways that are for our good, for me that is where the familiarity ends and where the defining moment is offered, do you want what is good? Or do you desire what is best?  (the blue pill or the red pill) I can always take what is good and it would be alright with Jesus for me to do so, but in my heart, as well as in my life script, I believe I am called to something that which is best and that something that is greater than just good.  What does the best look like?  And how do I find it?  I believe that the journey with Christ Jesus leads in the direction to find the best which is Jesus Himself, He is the gift that the Father gave us to become connected with and to discover the purposes of God, He is definitely the best in all aspects.  

It is amazing to consider that even before we were born God planned our destiny in advance with good works in mind (the word ‘good’ in the Greek means “excellent” and “joyful” among other things) that we should walk in them. The word ‘walk’ means (to progress or pass one’s life) in them.  These good works start in a relationship with Jesus, not just our willy-nilly efforts in going out trying to serve God out of our flesh, and continues on as we grow in communion in our daily walk with Him.

Connecting with these good works that have been planned for us starts when we connect with the heart of the Father for us and His creation.  These good works are excellent and Joyful works which we can progress forward and pass our lives in them, these works are an extension of the Father’s heart for us.  

Sometimes these good works are nothing more than just listening to Jesus and becoming a vessel that hears. Becoming a Priest unto the Lord is becoming a listener to serve the needs of Jesus as He beckons us into intimacy with Him.

Becoming a listener is an art, a place in which one is called to quiet one's mind and be drawn into a place of solitude and peace which is where hearing is at its greatest.  It is in that place of peace where God communes with the hearing heart and reveals His love and desire for the soul and His passion for His lover.  It is that love and passion which transforms the heart and we become witnesses of His glory.

That is our first calling to become intimate with Jesus and explore the love between us and Him, to know Him and that He may know us.  It is this beautiful exchange to know and be known, to that end we are His masterwork, poetry in the making.

This is the revelation of the beauty of Christ Jesus.

Be Blessed;

Stephen Barnett