The day before she graduated, Kinsey’s nursing school had a very nice ‘pinning ceremony’ for the graduates. Six guys and twenty-four ladies celebrated the end of an intense few years of higher education. Kinsey often told me that their group was very unified and she really loved each classmate. Teachers echoed this same compliment during banquet comments and in various conversations. One professor told me, “This group of kids is very talented, but also very cooperative. We didn’t notice competition or rivalry at all. With these good attitudes and their newly acquired skills, we believe these young people will make great contributions in the work place.” The Scripture printed on the program and read in the ceremony was one the students adopted as a verse they hoped would describe their class: “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)
It is interesting that Paul chose the words we and us when writing this encouragement. Each young nurse knows he or she will be going into the work place as an individual, but the emphasis at their celebration was: “God has prepared us, and we are going out to do his good work.” Paul understood the matter of individual responsibility before God, but it seemed he most often communicated in terms of the “body of Christ” or the “family of God”. It was very powerful to see a group of Christians with common preparation and common purpose standing before their teachers and loved ones with this identity: “We are God’s workmanship. We realize we’ve been created in our Lord Jesus to do good things in this world… works God has prepared in advance for us to do.”
What if we saw our families from this viewpoint? “We are God’s creation. He has placed us in Christ to do good works… things He’s already planned according to his good will.” What if we saw the church in this way? “We are God’s building. We are the family of God in Christ created to make a difference in this world. These good works are God’s plans… things He knew in advance we would do on earth to bring him glory.” God has placed a lot of wisdom and beauty and potential in we and us…
“You are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.” Ephesians 2:19-22