From Ashes to Beauty

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 This is true because what God originally made to be beautiful has been or is being spoiled by the evil Devil.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.