Beauty is not the natural end of events while we
live in this world. A great athlete will someday use a walker when they get out
of their chair. Someday the powerful four-star general will only have his wife
to yell at because his oatmeal is cold. A breathtaking beauty queen will be
bent over with gray hair when facing the world. The magnificent hands of the
surgeon will shake while writing their name. The end of a brilliant business
career will leave the kids fighting over every scrap of wealth. In this world we
should understand that everything goes from beauty down into ashes and not the
reverse. This is true because what God originally made to be beautiful has been
or is being spoiled by the evil Devil. Each of our lives has been dirtied by
this malicious individual. The evil one hates God and all the excellent creations
of His Son, so much, that he spends 24/7 tearing down everything possible. Many
people scoff at the simplicity of this truth but at the end of their life they
will face it for the final time. Thank God there is one way to reverse the
natural course of events and turn our ashes into beauty.
It will take a lifetime of work to reverse and most
people are not that interested. To make it even tougher, this life of beauty
forever is invisible to the eyes of an unbeliever. The eternal fact remains
that all of the sad scenarios listed above can have a very happy ending.
We can turn our life around by becoming a servant of Jesus. Unfortunately, many
people today have made a decision to “accept Jesus” but have never made the
slightest effort to follow through by doing what He has instructed us to do. Here
is a biblical description of a person that accepts Jesus; But
whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. For the Lord
is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is
freedom. So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect
the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who
is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his
glorious image. 2 Cor 3:16-18 (NLT) John 3:16 tells us that people who believe in Jesus can
have eternal life but Paul explains in 2 Cor 3:16 what actually happens if we
do believe. When this description fits us, things in our lives will change.
The Spirit
of Jesus actually changes our life; therefore we cannot apply our own
disciplines the same way the world does. We have all been taught that greatness
requires discipline but we saw in the opening paragraph that this life always
comes to a disappointing end. The world requires individual responsibility if
we want to discipline ourselves and of course the religious world has always
preached their types of discipline. But it is the source of our discipline that
is always the problem. Be careful how you
live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. Make the most of
every opportunity in these evil days. Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do…
be filled with the Holy Spirit, Eph 5:15-18 (NLT) Our Lord is already
perfectly disciplined, all we need to do for our part is understand what He
wants and follow Him. What could be any simpler than achieving a beautiful life
forever by obeying the Lord. We can make the ashes of our lives into a
beautiful life with God forever by yielding our worldly aspirations and enjoy
the perfect discipline of Jesus our master.
This
higher life that we are talking about is always at peril to our weakness. Paul
gave warnings to us; So now that
you know God (or should I say, now that God knows you), why do you want to go
back again and become slaves once more to the weak and useless spiritual principles of this world? Gal 4:9 (NLT) The
useless spiritual principles he is talking about are always ideas that men have
come up with for serving God. Because of our many weaknesses, every time we
decide how to serve God it will automatically be wrong. It is imperative
that we seek the leading of the Spirit for everything in our life. Even
then, there are times when we will fail but Jesus said this to Peter about his failure.
I have pleaded in prayer for you, Simon,
that your faith should not fail. So when
you have repented and turned to me again, strengthen your brothers.” Luke
22:32 Although Peter failed because of weakness, Jesus says that his faith
never failed. When we help other Christians it is important to remember that
EVERYONE has weaknesses. This means there are times when we must “repent and
turn to Jesus again.”
Because of
our many failures we should always have an attitude of humility. Humility is
for the purpose of serving others. It is never about impressing anyone. We
should be trying to convey the Gospel message to the world perchance some soul
might find the Savior. Paul claimed he preached this message to everyone he
met; that all must repent of their sins
and turn to God—and prove they have
changed by the good things they do. Acts 26:20 (NLT) We can see here
that just thinking we have changed is not enough. Paul says clearly that people
must “PROVE they have changed.” Truth and righteousness is what our God wants
for us. We must seek the beautiful life with our Lord while we still have time.
Please don’t ever get to the place that we hear him say; For the hearts of these people are hardened, and their ears cannot
hear, and they have closed their eyes— so their eyes cannot see, and their ears
cannot hear, and their hearts cannot understand, and they cannot turn to me and let me heal them.’ Matt 13:15 (NLT) Rise
from the ashes of this world and live in beauty before it is too late.
