Let the Beauty of Jesus Be Seen in Me (Strength in Hymn)

“Let the Beauty of Jesus”

Rev. Tom Jones

Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me

All his wonderful passion and purity

O Thou Spirit divine, all my nature refine

Till the beauty of Jesus be seen in me.

What is this beauty of Jesus?  Many tend to associate “beauty” with something aesthetically pretty, feminine, and in need of protection. But this kind of beauty has nothing to do with frilly fragility or prissy passivity. The beauty of Jesus is sturdy, forceful, fiercely protective, self-disciplined, faithful, creative, passionate, compassionate, refined, and pure. He is wonderful.

What does it mean to display the beauty of Jesus in our lives? It’s simply being like Jesus and walking in his ways. It means glorifying him instead of ourselves and defending the weak instead of reveling in power. Ironically, it also means we are unique, because the Holy Spirit works different ways in different people. No cookie cutter Christians here! Other believers might be good examples to us, but our goal in life is not to be just like our pastor or Bible study leader or best-selling author or famous preacher on TV. When we are influencing others, our goal should not be to make them just like us. It’s to love them authentically and bring them to the real Jesus.

Some of us have seen ugliness in the name of Jesus. We’ve been burned by those who claim his name but don’t follow his path or grow his fruit. Maybe we've burned others, too. When he has been misrepresented, it takes fresh new eyes to see Jesus as he truly is: beautiful. I try to remember that my troubling experiences with other people on this journey actually serve to refine and purify me in ways I hadn’t expected. Yes, they have brought doubts and resentments up to the surface, like dross to be burned off of the gold. I’m definitely a work in progress. (So are my fellow believers.) But my struggles and disappointments have also given me a new compassion for those who are hurting, a new passion for grace and truth, and a new resolve to be more like Jesus instead of trying to stuff myself into a religious mold. I’ll let him shape me into a useful vessel instead.

Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me.

I don’t remember where I first heard it, but this lovely old hymn is one of my favorites. I hadn’t sung it in a while, but found it again on someone’s blog recently with slightly different words.  What memories!  You can listen to the tune and see two more verses here.

This post is the second in my new series Strength in Hymn, for those who need a bit of consolation and renewal after rough patches on the Christian journey. The first one is  I Dare Not Trust the Sweetest Frame? You might also like Love Lifted Me. 

What hymns are encouraging to you in this season of life?  Do you have any favorites from days gone by that you'd like to dust off and sing again?  Leave a comment!

Grace,
Virginia Knowles
www.WatchTheShepherd.blogspot.com

P.S. The flower pictures were all taken in Baldwin Park, Florida, while I was waiting for three of my kids to get out of Lake Baldwin Church youth group on a recent Sunday evening.  I am thankful for the beauty I have found in this little congregation.