beauty for ashes

a beautiful image.

a beautiful phrase.

a beautiful feeling.

a beautiful song.

a beautiful moment.


There is beauty everywhere, I thought (and perhaps not incorrectly). Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, right? And isn't there a Bible verse that says God makes beauty from ashes? I can find beauty in places where others cannot.

These thoughts, though none blatantly incorrect and most of which would encourage and inspire the Christian, were twisted and abused and I used them to justify my sin.

I was listening to a lot of the latest greatest pop culture music. I still do sometimes, but I don't mistake its message for beauty.

I was looking at ungodly actions and telling myself that God would make beauty from ashes so being in 'ashes' was not so bad.

I abused the message that beauty could be found anywhere - including in sinful situations. Instead, I thought I found beauty in sin.

I began to hear these words:

 Sin is not beautiful. Keep looking for beauty - what you have found is not it. This is not beauty. Sin is not beautiful.

After struggling with my concept of beautiful things, a sermon summed up my entire struggle:

We take our sin.
We manipulate it. The law too.
We justify our sin. But we don't stop there.
We match it to a beat of a song,
We time it to the pace of our life.
We make it seem beautiful.
And then we are no longer believe we're guilty.
But sin is never beautiful. Never.

I had to start over. What in my life was actually beautiful?

 There is beauty everywhere. But so is sin. Don't mix them up.

He will tell me what is beautiful.


"To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified." Isaiah 61:3 (KJV)

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