For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10 (NIV)

You were created to do good works. Let that sink in. God formed you by God’s own hand, and prepared in advance for you to do good works. No matter what kinds of things you have or have not done in your past, God still has good works prepared for you to do in your future. 

This is the grace of God. Earlier in this passage from Ephesians, Paul reminds us that it is not by our own merit that we are saved, but because of God’s love and faithfulness, freely given. Our good works are not meant to earn God’s grace. Our good works are meant to be evidence of God’s grace. 

This passage also reminds me that God has prepared good works in advance not only for me but for others. Not every good work is mine to accomplish, and it is important for me to seek discernment, to ask God to show me which good works are prepared for me. If I go about saying “yes” to everything that seems good, I become vulnerable to burn out, but I also become vulnerable to depending on my own accomplishments over God’s grace. 

In this merit-based world, I’ve been taught to earn my way, so it’s not easy to get my head around the difference in God’s economy. It’s not easy to receive grace as a gift I did not earn and do not deserve, and to think of good works as a response to grace rather than an attempt to justify it. But this is what God means for us to do, good works prepared in advance by God’s grace, so that no one can boast.

As we go through this day, let’s be alert to the good works God has prepared for us to do, but also to those he may have prepared for someone else. And let’s give thanks to God for the grace in both.

Creator of all things, remind us that you have orchestrated good works for all your children, that we would find joy in ours, and in others’. In Christ’s name we pray, Amen.