Beauty Instead of Ashes

Isaiah 61:1-3 "The spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.  He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion--to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.  They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor."

Out of this beautiful passage of scripture full of wonderful words of encouragement and hope, you know what resonates with me?  "to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes", "beauty instead of ashes".  When I mess up, which by the way is constantly, sometimes I really feel convicted, I feel bad, and rightly so.  I feel stupid, ugly, and condemned!  Especially if it is something I do over and over.  I pray for forgiveness and then I have to make a choice.  Do I keep dwelling on it and continue to beat myself up over it?  Or, do I let it go and look at it like Jesus does?  Recently I had one of those particularly condemning moments.  I was upset at myself for something I did.  I was reminded in that moment that the Bible says in Romans 5:8 "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this.  While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

Sin is ugly!  Sin is condemning!  Sin is what Jesus took upon himself on the cross!  My sin, your sin, everyone's sin.  It can't get any worse, it can't get any uglier then it did on the cross as Jesus took it all for us.  So much so that God, his own father had to look away.  That's bad!

That's also beautiful!  What?  yes, beautiful!  Think about it, what's more ugly than nasty old burned up ashes.  They stink, they are gray, colorless, remnants of something that no longer exists.  Sometimes a fire can be beautiful when it is burning.  But, what about the next day when you look at it?  Just ugly old gray ashes.  Nothing beautiful about it any more!  But, it doesn't end there.  Because of what Jesus did for us on the cross, he is bestowing on us a crown of beauty instead of ashes.  He is offering us a way out of the ugliness.  And because of that, because of the gracious act of love on the cross, we (with all of our ugly sinful selves) are beautiful to him.  When we believe in Jesus with all of our hearts, confess our sins to him, and believe that he died for our sins and rose again, he makes us white as snow!  White as snow, not gray as ashes!  He gives us a crown of beauty...forgiveness!

I hope the next time you, or me are tempted to feel ugly and condemned because of our sinful selves, we remember Jesus is right there making us beautiful again.  He never tires of it, he already paid the ultimate price.  He already knew we would need it over and over again.  So graciously accept that crown of beauty today as graciously as he gave it.  You are beautiful to him! 

      
This is one of the first paintings my daughter Brandi made.  It hangs in our living room as a daily reminder of his beauty.