BEAUTIFUL BUT DEADLY
When I saw this photo of the Blue-Ringed octopus, I thought it was strikingly beautiful. But then I found out that it’s one of the most venomous creatures in the ocean. When it feels threatened, it strikes and asphyxiates its victims by paralyzing respiratory muscles. It reminded me of Satan in the Graden of Eden. Ezekiel 28: 12-15 describes how beautiful he was, but we quickly see that his ways were deadly to humanity. We can never trust in outward appearances. Moses and the great Apostle Paul were both murderers. Peter was somewhat of a bigot. But, in contrast, look at how beautiful and wise Satan was:
“Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.
Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God;
Every precious stone was thy covering,
the sardius, topaz, and the diamond,
the sardius, topaz, and the diamond,
the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper,
the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold:
the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold:
The workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes
was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.
was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.
Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so:
thou wast upon the holy mountain of God;
thou wast upon the holy mountain of God;
Thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.
Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created,
till iniquity was found in thee.”
till iniquity was found in thee.”
If we go one by one through the Bible stories, we see that most of the great men and women of the Bible had pretty big flaws. Jesus himself said: “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Luke 5:32). And guess what? We all fall into that sinner category. “There is none righteous, no, not one” (Rom. 3:10).
That doesn’t mean we are okay staying sinners. The goal is to do our best to let the Lord guide us into all righteousness. Only Jesus can lead us. It’s the way God set it up.
We can’t make up what we think is right. We go by what the written Word of God says, and we get born again of His Spirit so we can truly understand the lessons of the Bible and get personal downloads from the Lord of spiritual understanding and instruction in everyday life situations.
Our beauty is from within. It’s not in the clothes we wear, the houses we live in, the great book knowledge we have, or the intellectual acumen. That’s all fluff—nice fluff—but fluff none the less. And even as Bible-believing sons of God, we are going to do some things that are not so beautiful, and we are going to see others do some things we don’t like either.
But the lesson of looking on a person’s heart is never overstated. God does it, and Ephesians 5:1 tells us: “Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children.” One way to pray for ourselves and others is to pray that the Lord gets to the heart and brings us and others forward into the things He’s intended. It doesn’t always look sparkly, peaceful or pretty. But integrity of heart is better than beauty.
Love, Carolyn
Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
LIFE LESSONS TO EMPOWER OUR SOULS:
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