Devotions by Christine Caine

Read Ephesians 4:11–24

The apostle Paul tells us about the gifts and callings of God.

God’s Workmanship

We each arrive on the planet differently. Some babies are loved, prayed over, planned for by conscientious parents. Others are surprises. Some are unwanted by their parents. While some are conceived in love, others are conceived by force. Some babies are born prematurely. Some are born breech. Some arrive by C-section, and others are pushed out in a few minutes. Some are brought home to lovely nurseries, handpicked strollers, and handmade cribs. Others get hand-me-downs—or nothing at all. Some of us may not like or know the circumstances of our births, but not one of us needs to be defined by or limited by those circumstances. Each of us has the chance to be born again in Christ, a second birth, to connect with our eternal purpose.

Before earth was even created, God says we were designed and made to do good works in Christ—works prepared before the making of the world (Ephesians 2:10). No matter how we got here, no matter the particulars of our births, we each were chosen in eternity long before we ever arrived in time, on earth. If God created us to do good works of eternal significance, he would not create us ill-prepared for those tasks. Let these truths settle inside you:

1. God made each one of us. Each of us was a product of God’s workmanship, no one else’s.
2. God chooses each one of us. None of us is an after­thought or an accident. The Creator of the universe has chosen us, individually, by name, for a great mission he would entrust to no one else?
3. God is always with us. God never leaves nor forsakes us.
4. God names us. Before we were given names by our earthly parents, God already knew us by name.
5. God calls us. None of us is unwanted. God makes each of us specifically for a good purpose to be worked out in time during our sojourn on earth—and he equips us to do those things for which he created us.
6. God is our Father. You can know the one who has made himself known to us—our Abba Father (Galatians 4:6).

Point to Ponder

Regardless of what your parents may have planned or intended, from God’s perspective there was nothing accidental or unintentional about your birth. You were not an accident, unknown, unnamed, or unwanted. God has always known who you are.