Something Beautiful

Something beautiful, something good
All my confusion He understood
All I had to offer Him was brokenness and stife
But he made something beautiful of my life.

I love this song. If you've never heard it, I encourage you to have a listen. 

This is one songs you'll find me humming quite often. It gets stuck in my head. I look outside to see the sun shining, and my mind starts singing, "something beautiful".  Or I'll hear my sweet baby laugh, and I'll think "something good". Of course, there are those days when I look around my kitchen and all I see is "brokenness and strife," and I'm reminded that even the biggest of messes can be made beautiful in time. 

While these small moments of happiness are meant to be enjoyed, they aren't enough to make something beautiful of our lives. For that, we need to call on someone much greater than ourselves.  

O worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness: fear before him, all the earth. Psalm 96:9

I love this phrase, "the beauty of holiness".  The beauty of being set apart in obedience to God.

Throughout the New Testament, we as Christians are admonished to put away sin and to be holy. 

But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.  Romans 6:22

Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.  2 Corinthians 7:1

And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Ephesians 4:21

For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness.  1 Thessalonians 4:7

Living a holy life means being made free from sin and being made servants to righteousness. It's not something we can do on own. We need the Holy Spirit to make us a new creation. As the song says "He takes our brokenness and strife, and makes something beautiful," new, holy. 

However, this beauty isn't always evident in our daily lives. It sure isn't in mine. Like most of the world I find myself coveting temporary, physical beauty rather than an inner life devoted to holiness. I get so caught up in having a beautiful home, a beautiful yard, a beautiful family, a beautiful body, that I forget what real beauty is all about. 

But I want my life be something beautiful. It may not always be neat and clean. My life is rarely orderly, well-dressed, and perfectly behaved! However, it has been given to God, and He can do more with it than I ever could. 

As Christ-followers we are called to be set apart. It's not by our own merits that we achieve this beautiful life, but by the grace of God. He forgives our sin, heals our brokenness, and sets us apart for his service, to bring honor and glory to himself. That my friends is a truly beautiful life.