Wow'em!

Beauty abounds in God's Creation. From the colors splashed on the sky, to the span of the view from a mountain peak, to the mesmerizing song of a waterfall, to the engineering of the crystals of a snowflake, to the stupendous variety in aquatic life... the list of places to be awed in Creation is long. God loves beauty; not the plastic perfection we are trained to admire, but the truly awesome of grand design. Those who love and serve His purposes in this world are commissioned 'make all things bright and beautiful!'

In the 5th chapter of Ephesians there is an extended passage that compares two ways to live- one ugly, the other, beautiful; one the result of sin, the other the work of God. The opening lines are our commission. "Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love." Imitators of God! Co-creators of beauty, beginning with our own hearts. The passage calls us to set aside immorality, impurity, and greed. "Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them." The Spirit urges us to reject the emptiness of drunkenness that deceives us to think of the coarse, the base, and the ugly as beautiful! "Instead, be filled with the Spirit. Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." Take a look at the aim of the Lord in loving us! "Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless." (Ephesians 5, NIV)

• Are you bringing out the beauty in life by using your creative gifts, by loving deeply, by being the one-of-a-kind person God asks you to be?
  
• Are you letting the Spirit transform you from 'glory to glory?'

Let me encourage you today to let the beauty of Jesus Christ shine through. Just as a true work of art creates a 'wow' factor in those who take it in, pray that God will make your life a work of divine art. Then, others will know what an awesome Designer you serve, for the praise of His glory.

Here's a word from the Word for your meditation. "By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires." (2 Peter 1:3-4, NLT)
_______________

He gave me beauty for ashes,
The oil of joy for mourning,
The garment of praise
For the spirit of heaviness,
That we might be trees of righteousness,
The planting of the Lord,
That He might be glorified.

Beauty For Ashes
Manzano, Robert
© 1976, 1979, 1983 Maranatha! Music (Admin. by The Copyright Company)
CCLI License No. 810055