“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10 NASB)
In most elementary schools students have a period of time where they can go outside and play on the playground, expend the excess energy that has to be restrained during other parts of the regular school day, even in the cafeteria where in some schools teachers are on duty patrolling, marshalling, and controlling every movement of the children, much like you see how guards work in movies, depicted just doing their duties during the time inmates are on the yard. But doing that period of time on the playground, called recess, the young students are able to rip and run, play on playground equipment, and make up their own games. Retirees living in neighborhoods close by can hear the excited, exuberant, extremely joyful sounds of the children’s voices, unrestrained for the most part, doing their recess period.
Recess is held outside every day, weather permitting. On days where it is too cold, too hot, too rainy, or there is too much snow, the students have “inside recess.” On those days, the teachers who were scheduled to take their turn monitoring recess outside, they end up with two or three classes of students in their assigned room during “inside recess.” As a side note, many students think “inside recess” is an oxymoron. Nevertheless, teachers, professionals who we should be grateful for, they are generally prepared and typically pull-out boxes of board games, entertaining books, puzzles, etc. If portable computers are stored in the room, students can play games that are not forbidden in the classroom.
One day, during inside recess, the teacher-in-charge sees one of the young students disassembling, yes, taking apart one of the small computers. The student had just started and only a couple of parts had been removed and laid aside. The teacher puts a halt to the student’s handiwork and tells her to put everything back together. A question is posed to the child, “What did you call yourself doing?” The child replies, “I was just curious how things worked. I would have put it back together.” The teacher smiled, understanding the student’s motive.
I would say that this student’s inquisitive and exploratory nature were early signs that a future career in engineering, science, or technology awaited her in the future. Her interest in the inner workings earned a compliment from the teacher, who could see the child’s potential and possibilities for her future, one filled with great success. Personally, I hope that child continued to pursue a field that would match her inquisitive nature about the inner workings of things.
You may not be an engineer, but you have been engineered. You have been fearfully and wonderfully made. You are unique and undoubtedly the workmanship of the Lord. However, your inner workings have been impacted by your environment and tampered with by various experiences, as well as evil enticements. The way you think, and act has been interfered with, subtly, both intentionally and unintentionally, by the world we live in. Thank God you are able to counter any negative impact on your inner workings by the works of God on you as a believer. Thank God that He continually works on you to sanctify you and set you apart from the world. Thank God that Christ dwells in you to change you! Thank God you have His Spirit within you to keep your inner workings functioning right, functioning as a child of God! Thank God for His word that impacts our inner workings and helps you avoid many failings. Thank God that, in the words of Thomas Beecher, “Troubles are often the tools by which God fashions us for better things.”
And even when your individual inner workings don’t function right, thank God that He has given us a way to repent, confess our sins, and get our inner workings back on to functioning right! Thank God, He cleanses us and brings us to the point of another new start or new beginning!
Just think what your life would be like if the Lord had not made your inner workings brand new in Christ Jesus! Just think about how dysfunctional you would be if it was not for the Lord working on you daily! When you go to church tomorrow, Sunday, please thank Him for designing you as a new creature in Christ Jesus. Praise Him for His assuring you that your inner workings, ever changing for the better, will help you live out your Christian potential and scale the impossible barriers that you once did not think were possible to overcome! And after Sunday, spend each day, observing how the Lord is still working on your inner workings. He is not through with you yet! Hope you got a thought this Saturday morning. Be blessed!
“There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears.” (Philippians 1:6 The Message Bible)
Still committed to the climb,
Mark L. King