Like a Work of Art

1 Peter 3:4 No, your beauty should come from inside you-the beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit. That beauty will never disappear. It is worth very much to God.

A few years back, I visited the Tate Gallery, down by the River Thames in London. It’s one of those incredibly grand old buildings that the Brits do so very well. And let me tell you it’s packed with the most amazing works of art.

But as I was leaving, I noticed in the stone of the outer sidewall, what looked like a shrapnel hole … then another … and yet another.

In fact, almost thirty metres of this amazing old “art gallery” was still heavily scarred from the Blitzkrieg. Why hadn’t they repaired it?

Then it hit me. They’d left the scars of war hanging there like … well, like a work of art. And in a strange sort of a way, it was the most profoundly moving exhibit in the whole gallery for me.

You and I, we want to cover up our scars, because we think they’re ugly. And yet there is such an exquisite beauty in the wounded life touched by the hand of God, a hand that itself, remains deeply scarred.

No, your beauty should come from inside you-the beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit. That beauty will never disappear. It is worth very much to God. (1 Peter 3:4)

The hurts of the past that have been healed by God yield a gentle, quiet spirit. They’re part of the exquisite beauty of God’s creation, just like those shrapnel holes in the side of the Tate Gallery.

I think that what Jesus sees when He looks at you and at me, scars and all … is the most exquisite work of art.

That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.

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