Verses that inspire

 

I was inspired by this verse in my devotions, and I wanted to share it:

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)

We should never forget that is only by God's grace that we can accept His gift of salvation. It is His mercy that makes it accessible, and we can only receive it through faith, which He gives to us, as well! 

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9, NIV)

But we haven't been raised to newness of life just to sit like a stone. We have a purpose! 

We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may walk in newness of life. (Romans 6:4, BSB)

We are God's craftsmanship, his masterpieces, made in Jesus Christ, so that we may perform good actions and good works. And these are tasks that God prepared for us to do, even before we were born!

In today's world, it's easy to feel like we don't measure up to others. Just look at all the happy-go-lucky, awesomely positive things that people post on social media!! If we are not careful, we forget that EVERYONE has trials and sadness in their lives, and we start to think that there is something wrong with us. Our life is not like that. 

The truth is, we need to get our noses out of social media and remember that God created us for a totally unique and wonderful purpose! God sees us as important. We are His handiwork and He cares about us. He is interested in what we do and what we think. He created us to do something good.

And if we are still breathing, it's because we haven't finished what He has for us to do!

God can use us to touch other people and make a difference in the world. There are people around us that need to know about Jesus. God can use us to show them our Savior.

God has lots in store for us - are you still breathing? Don't give in to the lies that you are not important. Don't listen to anyone (even yourself) who tries to say you are not as talented as someone else. Choose to believe what God says about you - remember that you have been created to do good things!