READ: ISAIAH 61:3
We have the most beautiful orange/red lilies blooming outside our back window. They are spectacular! If you look out the window, they are the most brilliant color you see amidst all the other flowers blooming. When I asked what they were called, Virginia shrugged and said, “I got them out of a trash pile. I saw a pile of lumber in someone’s trash and stopped to pick it up and these plants were in the pile. I didn’t know what kind of bulb it would bloom out to be. But I planted it, watered it, and gave it some better dirt to grow in. Isn’t it gorgeous?”
I couldn’t help but reflect that we are all like this lily. We were virtually trash in our sins. Thrown away and considered ‘nobody,’ worthless, scum, somebody that was beyond saving. And then Christ came along and picked us up out of the trash heap we had fallen into. He planted us in His word, surrounded us with people to love us, allowed us to swim in His worship. And from ashes, beauty appeared. It is the miracle of the gospel touch. When Christ picks us up, we blossom.
We have the most beautiful orange/red lilies blooming outside our back window. They are spectacular! If you look out the window, they are the most brilliant color you see amidst all the other flowers blooming. When I asked what they were called, Virginia shrugged and said, “I got them out of a trash pile. I saw a pile of lumber in someone’s trash and stopped to pick it up and these plants were in the pile. I didn’t know what kind of bulb it would bloom out to be. But I planted it, watered it, and gave it some better dirt to grow in. Isn’t it gorgeous?”
I couldn’t help but reflect that we are all like this lily. We were virtually trash in our sins. Thrown away and considered ‘nobody,’ worthless, scum, somebody that was beyond saving. And then Christ came along and picked us up out of the trash heap we had fallen into. He planted us in His word, surrounded us with people to love us, allowed us to swim in His worship. And from ashes, beauty appeared. It is the miracle of the gospel touch. When Christ picks us up, we blossom.
– Dr. Tim Thompson