For all the saints

Saints reveal the beauty of Jesus

We don’t go around preaching about ourselves but about Christ Jesus as Lord. All we say of ourselves is that we are your slaves because of what Jesus has done for us. For God, who said, “Let there be light in the darkness,” has made us understand that it is the brightness of his glory that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 4:5-6

There is a  verse written by Albert Osborn that simply says:-

Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me,
All his wonderful passion and purity,
O thou Spirit divine, all my nature refine,
Till the beauty of Jesus be seen in me.

If you look into a handheld mirror you will see your reflection. Your reflection is what the world sees (that’s why you look in the mirror to make sure your hair looks okay). It’s the same with our reflection of Christ. Are you reflecting the teachings of Jesus in your life? Are our churches reflecting the way of Christ? When people reject God, are they rejecting Christ himself or what we have reflected wrongly?

A minister was looking out of the kitchen window as he held his youngest son, Ephram. He was trying to get him to look at the birds on the other side of the window but he seemed consumed with something in the window itself. He realised that he could see his reflection in the glass and so could he. He was transfixed on his own image in the glass.

Often, so are we. If we are going to see things the way that God sees them in our lives, then we are going to have to look through the glass as it was intended to see what God has in store for us!

George Herbert phrased this well in his hymn with verse:-

A man that looks on glass, 

         On it may stay his eye; 

Or if he pleaseth, through it pass, 

         And then the heav'n espy. 

I wonder, how are we reflecting the beauty of the living Christ in our lives. 

Loving Lord, May the light of Your truth, love, and compassion, shine in me, and reflect from me the glories of Jesus, so that Your name may be glorified in all I say and do. This I ask in Jesus' name, AMEN.