Preparing The Way…

Morning!

Raises his cup of coffee

Ephesians 2:10

“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

We are a piece of a puzzle, a single thread woven into a tapestry of works that spans all of human history. Paul spoke this truth in Ephesus, an important city in the early Church and a central hub of his ministry.

From this one small passage, we know something profound:

• We are the work of Jesus Christ.     

• We are a living, breathing work of art, shaped and molded by the Holy Spirit.

• We are created for a purpose.

And what is that purpose? To do good works.

But here’s the part of the Scripture that stood out to me this morning: God prepares our good works beforehand.  That means we are not just wandering without direction—Jesus prepares the way.

Isaiah 40:3-5

“The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted and every mountain and hill brought low; the crooked places shall be made straight and the rough places smooth; the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

• Jesus is Lord.

• Jesus is Friend.

• Jesus prepares our way.

But the question I found myself asking today was—are we preparing the way for Jesus?

This ties back to something we reflected on a few days ago—taking stock of our actions and who they serve.

It seems to me that:

• Parents prepare the way for their children. They do the chores, prepare food, take on the work necessary for life. They finance both the dreams and the daily needs of their children, in ways both grand and mundane.

• A good husband and wife prepare the way for each other. They fold each other’s laundry, share housework, split responsibilities, play receptionist, wait upon one another in sickness.

But what about friends?

• Have we ever considered how we prepare the way for our friends?

• Have we considered how we prepare the way for our pets?

• Could these not all be ways the Holy Spirit teaches us truths about Jesus and ourselves?

The small acts of service we do—the things that go unnoticed—are often the very things that reflect Christ most clearly.

It’s easy to get lost in introspection. But the Word reminds us that faith is not just about reflection—it’s about action.

James 1:21-25

“Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the Word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.”