Isa.61:3 – To console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;
One of the strangest things people think about when considering becoming a Christian is what they will have to give up to follow Christ. That is a total proof of the blindness of the human heart without Christ. I was a perfect example of this kind of foolishness as I was considering giving my life to Christ. My spiritual journey lasted about a year before my conversion and during that season I came up with every reason imaginable about why I shouldn’t have to stop smoking pot. The real reason was that I liked it and didn’t want to quit. The funny thing about my conversion is how easy it was to give up in the new light of Christ and experiencing the new life that He offered me. I remember looking at my last bag of weed before it got flushed and laughing at myself about the stupidity of my former reasoning. I was giving up this bag of stems, sticks, seeds, and grass – I was gaining joy unspeakable in my new life in Christ. I was giving up nothing, less than nothing, and gaining everything. Here is how Jonathan Edwards ex[plains this.
“We have deprived ourselves of all spiritual food; we are like the prodigal son that perished with hunger, and would gladly have filled his belly with husks. God has taken notice of this our condition, and has provided for us a feast of fat things…We by sin have brought ourselves into a dry and thirsty wilderness; but God was merciful, and took notice of our condition, and has provided for us rivers of water, water out of the rock. We by sin have brought upon ourselves a miserable slavery and bondage; God has made provision for our liberty. We have exposed ourselves to weariness; God has provided a resting-place for us. We by sin have exposed ourselves to many outward troubles and afflictions; God has pitied and in Christ has provided true comfort for us. We have exposed ourselves to our grand enemy, even Satan, to be tempted and buffeted by him; God has pitied, and has provided for us a Savior and Captain of salvation, who has overcome Satan, and is able to deliver us. Thus God has in Christ provided sufficiently for our help in all kinds of evils.”
I have come to the conclusion we give up nothing to follow Christ. We give up a life of sin with eternal consequences and we gain freedom and joy now with an eternity that is too good for words.
1 thought on “BEAUTY FOR ASHES”
Who can forget their first taste of the purity of His love and presence. It captivates and even unhinges me time after time.