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
During 2026, Peachtree Church is inviting everyone into Cultivate, a churchwide discipleship plan centered on the fruit of the Spirit and the kind of life God longs to grow in us. Throughout the year, we’ll explore how love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control take shape in everyday life through the Spirit’s work. Cultivate brings together worship, Scripture, group guides, and meaningful practices designed to meet you where you are and support growth in ways that fit your season. These twice-weekly devotionals are one way to stay connected, offering reflection and grounding for daily life with God. Whether you engage in many ways or just one, you’re invited to be part of this shared journey of becoming more rooted in who God has created and called you to be.
Devotional
I once saw a work of art that has stuck with me for years. It showed a pair of rough, older hands digging in rich black earth. They were working hands, not the hands of a scholar or idle man. Below the picture was the verse from Genesis 2 about God forming the man out of the dust from the ground, breathing into his nostrils the breath of life, and creating a living man. I was struck by the dirty and creative hands of God.
Our verse for today calls human beings God’s handiwork or workmanship in another translation. We think of the hands of a carpenter, a craftsman, shaping and molding and pouring his love into the creation of his hands. We remember the verse from Isaiah 64 that says, “We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.” To me, it is encouraging to think of God’s hands working over the raw material of my life, making something beautiful of my life. What better hands to be in than God’s hands?
But there is a really amazing Greek word that has been translated as “handiwork” or “workmanship.” That word is really poeima, the word we use when we talk about a poem. We are God’s poem! Poems often make keen observations of the world as it is, and as it should be. They leave us in a different place than we were before we read them.
Now, if you are thinking I am nothing special, think of this: you were shaped by God’s hands. God perfectly made you suited for the good works he intends for you. When we object or decline to believe any of that, it’s like a door saying, I can’t open or shut, or a bowl saying, I can’t hold anything.
You and I and all our fellow Christian friends are God’s handiwork, God’s own poem, meant to be sent out into the world to do God’s planned good deeds.
For Reflection
Do you ever think of all the experiences, good and bad, that have shaped you into the person you are?
Are there events you used to think of as horrible that God has used to help you grow and get stronger?
If you look over your life with a God’s eye view, what has God made you into?
What would it mean to live and act as God’s poem or God’s own craftmanship?
Prayer
Dear Lord, sometimes I feel like a mistake, or a series of mistakes and screw-ups. But when I look over my life, I can see how you are shaping me and using my life to help me grow, connect with others, and bring You glory. Thank you for continuously working on me, carving away what is not good, shaping me into a poem that sings praise to You, gracious Lord. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.
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Devotionals