A diamond is found in the ground. It’s rough and ugly, but in the hands of a master diamond cutter, that rough, ugly stone is transformed into a thing of tremendous value and beauty.
The Lord does the same, taking old rough sinners and transforming them by His grace and His patient work in their lives.
I praise Him that He can take them from where they are, save them by grace and make something beautiful out of them for His glory.
Isaiah 61:1,3 The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
[3] 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.
The following words penned by Gloria Gaither in the song ‘Something Beautiful” always humbles me when I think of where I came from and how the Lord blessed my life.
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“Something beautiful, — something good. — All my confusion He understood. — All I had to offer Him was brokenness and strife, — But he made something beautiful of my life.
“If there ever were dreams that were lofty and noble, — They were my dreams at the start. — And hope for life's best were the hopes that I harbored — down deep in my heart. — But my dreams turned to ashes. — my castles all crumbled, — My fortune turned to loss. —. So I wrapped it all in the rags of life. — And laid it at the cross, and He made —
“Something beautiful, — something good. — All my confusion He understood. — All I had to offer Him was brokenness and strife, — But he made something beautiful of my life.”
Gloria Gaither
Ideas for this unprofitable blog are taken from The Sermon Notebook—Biblical resources for preachers and teachers of the word of God. They allow these sermons to be used as the Lord leads but not for profit.
