DEVOTION – TUESDAY,
MAY 8, 2012
“The Beauty of Christ”
BY
ALISTAIR BEGG
Whatever
beauty there may be in the material world, Jesus Christ possesses all of that
in the spiritual world to the nth degree. Among
flowers the rose is regarded as the sweetest, but Jesus is infinitely more
beautiful in the garden of the soul than a rose in the gardens of earth. He
takes the first place as the fairest among ten thousand. He is the sun, and all
others are the stars; the heavens and the day are dark in comparison with Him, for
the King in His beauty transcends all.
"I am
a rose of Sharon." This was the best and rarest of roses. Jesus
simply is not "a rose"; He is "a rose of Sharon," just as
He calls His righteousness "gold," and then adds, "the gold of
Ophir"1—the best of the best. He is positively lovely, and
superlatively the loveliest.
There is
variety in His beauty. The rose is delightful to the eye,
and its scent is pleasant and refreshing; so each of the senses of the soul,
whether it be the taste or feeling, the hearing, the
sight, or the spiritual smell, finds appropriate gratification in Jesus. Even
the recollection of His love is sweet. Take a rose of Sharon, pull it leaf
from leaf, and place the leaves in the jar of memory, and you will find each
leaf retains its fragrance, filling the house with perfume. Christ satisfies
the highest taste of the most educated spirit to the full. The greatest amateur
in perfumes is quite satisfied with a rose: And when the soul has arrived at
her highest pitch of true taste, she will still be content with Christ; indeed,
she shall be more able to appreciate Him.
Heaven
itself possesses nothing that excels a rose of Sharon. What emblem can fully
set forth His beauty? Human speech and earthborn things fail to tell of Him.
Earth's choicest beauties combine to provide ultimately a feeble picture of His
glory. Blessed rose, bloom in my heart forever!
No comments:
Post a Comment