An ugly brier was growing in a ditch. A noted gardener carefully dug around the ugly weed, lifted it out of the ground and took it home. To his neighbours’ surprise he planted it with his champion roses and many thought he had gone mad. He carefully tended the brier, just as he did his prize roses.
Some time later he took a sharp knife, made slits in the brier and budded it. When summer came, the brier was a mass of the most beautiful roses, and the centre of attraction in the magnificent rose garden.
The gardener explained that its beauty was not the result of what came OUT of the brier, but what he had put INTO the brier.
Christians will testify to the fact that God took the useless brier of our old nature and grafted in His own perfect life, with the result that we bring forth the flowers of His grace.
The point is about what we are showing to those with whom we come in contact.
Do they see the brier of the old life, or is the beauty of the Lord to be seen in us?
Does our “Light” so shine that they see the Lord Jesus and the difference He makes?
How true are the words of Isaiah 61:3 “He gave me beauty for ashes” as they apply to my life and yours – as seen by others?
Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me:
All His wonderful passion and purity.
O Thou, Saviour divine,
All my nature refine,
Til the beauty of Jesus be seen in me!
Something beautiful, something good –
All my confusion He understood.
All I had to offer Him was misery and strife,
But He made something beautiful out of my life.
Loved this. Thank you so much for posting.
~Heather Joy
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That chorus says it for me.
I was nothing. I had nothing. My whole life had been misery and strife. He met me in my need and He completely transformed my life. He hasn’t finished yet but I know that one day I shall see Him and I shall be like Him. Amazing love!
Angela
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As always, I enjoyed reading this post. We do serve an awesome God! Though our sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. (Isaiah 1:18). It is wonderful that He can turn an “ugly duckling into a beautiful swan,” by the precious blood of the lamb.
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“An ugly duckling into a beautiful swan” – so true!
“What a wonderful change in my life has been wrought, since Jesus came into my heart”
An awesome God indeed!
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made me think of the song we sing from that scripture — “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 tress of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He might be glorified.”
great post!!
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Everything you said is so true… a friend of mine used to say… “we are walking trophies of His grace!” What a wonderful blessing, and awesome responsibility it is to be brought from ashes to beauty! Thank you for a great posting!
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There was a time when I wished I had been brought up in a Christian home, but I am soooooooooo thankful that I knew just how barren and hopeless those “ashes” were. I knew there was absolutely NOTHING in me, but God brought LIFE out of that nothingness.
I know some Christians who don’t seem to realise just how hopeless they were without Christ, and those same Christians still have a battle with worldly desires.
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Yes Gloria, I thought of that song too. All glory is due to Him because of ourselves we are still nothing.
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