GOD’S WORKMANSHIP
‘For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works.’
Life in Christ enters as an invasion to which you have to surrender absolutely, without reserve. Die to yourself! Let Him have you! You are to become His—His workmanship—to be recreated in the energy of His Manhood. Yield, yield then. Let your will go. Let the self break. Go under! Give in! Let the power of God have its way with you, as the potter with the clay, as the musician with the ear, as the spirit over the flesh.
I. And then the miracle begins.—It is you who become alive. It is you who expand and grow. For what is it that God does in you? He makes you able to become yourself. And how do you know that He is at work? Because you yourself can do so much more than before: because your manhood is stronger; because you, as a man, develop, grow, expand. How do you recognise the stirring of the Spirit? By the purity of the flesh; by the strengthening of all your bodily forces; by the gathering wealth of your human emotions and affections; by the wider reach of your human will; by the gladness that courses through the blood; by the freedom of happy desires; by the quivering thrill in the veins; by the song in the heart; by the joyful lips; by the fuller sympathies that knit you to your kind; by the peace and joy that you find in your home affections, your home tendernesses; by the growing keenness of your love for this dear earth about your feet; and by your passionate longing to share the fate of your fellow-men and to do them some true service before you die.
II. These are your proofs that God through Christ is in you.—You are more of a man. Your humanity is discovering itself. Your nature is being released. Your flesh is being set free. Your body is more your own. Your hindering sins are ceasing to maim and stunt your growth. That is what is happening; and that could only be happening if God were at work. It is only possible because you are His workmanship—in the art of being created Christ Jesus unto good works.
III. ‘His workmanship.’—Is not that our peace? He does it all. Leave everything to Him. Don’t ask why. Don’t trouble to think what will come of it. He is having His will with you. That is enough. Lie still! lie still! Oh! the strong hands that shape and fashion you. Oh! the firmness of the steadfast pressure which points all one way! Lie still! Let it work! Clay in the Potter’s hands! Yet—no dead clay! For this masterful will does not work from without by whirring wheel and biting tool. This workmanship of the Spirit passes into the material through which it works. The material itself becomes possessed of the craft. The passion of the Worker is ensouled in the work. His Purpose, His Imagination, His Desire—all reproduce themselves within it. So you—God’s workmanship—are yourselves the workers according to the law, ‘that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit.’ You do it all. You work out your salvation; just because it is God that worketh in you both to will and to do His good pleasure. You put out your force into it. You think, imagine, wish, will whatever is to be done. Nothing can be done without you. Your own faith makes you whole. Your own faith removes the mountains. You can do all that you desire to do through Christ in you That strengtheneth you.
IV. Be up, therefore, and doing.—Be busy; ‘occupy till He comes.’ There is so much to get through, and only twelve hours to do it in—before the night cometh, when no work can be done. Oh, haste! strain! The world, the Church—they need all you can give them. Be urgent! Call upon your whole powers. Press on! God’s work is hard work. It takes all our force to fulfil it.
(a) So keen, so occupied, you must be! Yet still at peace, surrendered, leaving all to God. For remember, you have not ceased to be passive under His strong hand because you are so busy in His service. They are but two sides of the same life. It is by lying passive under His Will that you are fired with passion for His service. You live because He lives in and through you.
(b) And, again, since it is He Who alone lives in you, therefore all your busy service can be left to His care. What does it matter what comes of it? It may all be brought to nought. It may show no result. Why should you mind? It is His, not yours. He will get what He wants out of it. He has other servants than you. You are not necessary. Leave it all to Him. Be busy; serve Him hard and long. Then drop it all, and be at peace.
Rev. Canon Scott Holland.