DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- THE BEAUTY OF JESUS

DAD'S RAMBLINGS – THE BEAUTY OF JESUS

"Therefore we also pray always for you that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness and the work of faith with power, that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ." (II Thessalonians 1:11-12)

The Apostle Paul prayed for the believers at Thessalonica that the name of Jesus Christ – that is, His reputation – would be glorified, or made glorious through them and that they would be glorified in Jesus.

The word for glorify means to make splendid, to adorn, to make beautiful. The beauty of Jesus is adorned through us and our lives are made beautiful in Him. As we fulfill the good pleasure of His goodness, His glory is shown to the world.

In his letter to Titus, the Apostle Paul wrote that we adorn the doctrine of God our Savior by our fidelity (Titus 2:10). The Greek word for adorn here is kosmeo, from which we get the word "cosmetic." This not to imply that we put on a show by our outward appearance, but that we make the doctrine of Christ beautiful by our lives. A natural result of glorifying Jesus is that we are made beautiful.

John wrote, "We beheld His glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth" (John 1:14). In the same way that Jesus showed the glory of God the Father, we also can show the glory of Christ, and we are beautified by His indwelling presence.

It is His grace that works in us His good pleasure so that we bring glory to Him. So we sing, "Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me. All His wonderful passion and purity. O, Thou Spirit divine, all my nature refine, til the beauty of Jesus be seen in me."

Love, Dad