• Home
  • GracEmail Ministry
    • What is GracEmail?
    • Latest GracEmail
    • frequently asked questions
    • GracEmail Category Index
  • Written Ministry
    • Articles
    • Special Bible Studies
    • Books
    • Online Books
    • Worship Resources
    • Interviews
  • Videos
  • About
    • The Personal Pages
      • Photo Albums
    • My Professional Life
  • Contact

Edward Fudge Ministries

Joyously drawing water from the springs of salvation Isaiah 12:2-3

You are here: Home / GracEmail / this world we inhabit / culture and thought / GOD’S HANDIWORK

GOD’S HANDIWORK

  This past Christmas eight related households in five states each received an exquisite piece of counted cross stitch artwork. These gifts of love represented hundreds if not thousands of hours of meticulous, painstaking craftsmanship by my mother, who recently celebrated her 85th birthday, and who selected each work to complement the household colors and decor of each of her six birth children and two stepchildren scattered throughout the USA. Sara Faye and I opened ours at Mom’s birthday party in January — a portrait-quality portrayal of a cottage yard aflame with brilliant flowers, complete with a birdhouse and bordered in by a white picket fence. (To see a photo of this handiwork, click here.)

Mom is a gifted artist (as is my brother Benjamin) whose oil paintings also grace two rooms of our house, along with the 360-degree miniatures in our china cabinet that she painted on eggshells. I admire artistry of all kinds — acting, dancing, drawing, hand-work, filmmaking, painting, photography, music, writing and whatever else I am forgetting. With each medium, we marvel at the finished work but we praise the artist who created it.

In the Greek-speaking Mediterranean world of the first-century, a finished work of art (literary or otherwise) was a poiema, which in English becomes a “poem.” Paul chooses this word twice in his letters to describe works made by the Master Artist, God himself. God’s first “poem” consists of “the things that have been made,” the physical creation itself (Rom. 1:20). And what a gallery of natural art the Creator offers for our pleasure! We can admire star-filled skies, snow-covered mountains, desert vistas, floral landscapes, sparkling waterfalls or majestic oceans — and praise the artist who created them.

God’s second “poem,” his artistic “workmanship,” is seen in the transformed lives of women and men who constitute his new creation in Christ Jesus (Eph. 2:10). And what a show of divine artwork results from this! God works through the Spirit and the dingy tightwad becomes a warm-hearted benefactor. The Creator touches a self-centered man consumed with pride and he morphs into a model of humble service. The Master Artist “works” a woman enslaved to bitterness and blasphemy, and a gracious lady overflowing with encouragement is the result. We admire God’s poiema and praise the Artist. How great is our God!

Filed Under: culture and thought, GracEmail, this world we inhabit

Search

SEARCH more than 1,200 gracEmails by verse or word below:
Enter a term in the search box and press enter. You can also further restrict the search to a sub-category by using the drop-down menu.


Sign Up to gracEmail

Click HERE, then fill in the blanks and click “Subscribe.”

Or send a completely BLANK email to:
join-edwardfudge@injesus.netatlantic.com

  • Home
  • Site Map
  • Latest GracEmail
  • Written Ministry
  • About
  • Contact

Copyright © 2023 Edward Fudge Ministries · KT Websites · Log in