His Workmanship

Text: “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10).

What do we know about workmanship?

Workmanship is an art, skill, or special technique of a workman. Workmanship indicates the good or bad quality of something created, produced, or made.

Furniture on the showroom floor might look very nice, but when checked out very closely turns out to be poorly put together. Many times dressers and cabinets are made of particle board that does not hold up with time and use. Bathroom cabinets made of particle board will fall apart if they become damp. Once a screw comes out of a drawer or shelf made of particle board, it will not hold when reinserted.

The Amish people are very proud of their workmanship. They use real wood, take great care in the construction process of the project, and exercise great effort in making the finished project beautiful and lasting. At the present time, any of us can buy one of their cabinets, cherry wood or maple wood, containing an electric heating unit on wheels so that it can be moved from room to room.

These people are proud of everything they build or make. Their barns are better constructed than most of our houses. Their horse-drawn buggies are constructed of the highest quality material and assembled with the greatest care.

I’m sure that some of you have a skill that others do not have. Many men are good at carpentry, bricklaying, cement work, auto mechanics, or electrical work. Many women take pride in sewing, knitting, crocheting, cooking, or gardening.

Years ago, my mother used to sit and cut rags so that her friend who had a loom could make throw-rugs. When my mother received the rugs, she would sit by the hour and tie the ends so the rugs would not unravel. The rugs were beautiful and mother shared them with her friends.

There are people, perhaps some of you, who like to paint pictures. Painting is an art that requires special talent. People pride themselves, and rightly so, when they paint a portrait or picture demonstrating superb skill, technique, or workmanship.

Leonardo da Vinci was one with excellent workmanship in a number of areas. He was a mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, painter, architect, botanist, musician, and writer. He was famous for his painting of the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper. His workmanship is excellent and can be viewed by people of this day.

There are many people who possess a skill or art that demonstrates great workmanship. These people know that anything worth doing is worth doing well. We teach our children that education is important and they should learn as much as they can.

When a child likes to read and write, we encourage them. When children are interested in music or any of the other arts we stand behind them showing our interest and approval. It is through these actions that we help people develop their skills that will bring about good workmanship.

There is One who possesses a workmanship like no one else. That person is our God. He created everything that is. He created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1). God created light and He really like it. “God saw the light that it was good….” (Genesis 1:4). His workmanship was perfect.

God didn’t stop here, but instead, He went on to divide the waters of the firmament. “God called the firmament Heaven” (Genesis 1:8). Then God did another wonderful peace of work. He took the waters under the heavens and placed them in strategic areas, thus, exposing dry areas called land. God called the dry land earth and He called the waters seas. He was very pleased with His workmanship and Scripture says, “And God saw that it was good” (Genesis 1:10).

God knew what He was doing and He was proud of His work and brought forth vegetation upon the land. As God looked out over the land with the vegetation, He said, “…it is good” (Gen. 1:12).

Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth” (Gen. 1:14, 15). The greater light, the sun, would be for day and the lesser light, the moon, would be for night. This wasn’t enough, so God placed stars within the heavens.

God possessed workmanship beyond what we can possible imagine. Everything He made was perfect. There were no flaws, mistakes, or slip-ups. There was no need for margin of error because there was no error.

Again, God liked what He created and said that it was good. Did He stop here? No! He went on to populate the waters and the land with animal life. All of these animals were able to reproduce, so life was to continue. Reproduction in itself is beyond the comprehension of man. Man has somewhat of an idea, but he does not have all the intricacies or ins and outs of the reproductive processes of life.