Beautiful salvation

For the LORD takes pleasure in His people; He will beautify the humble with salvation. – Psalm 149v4

I have the incredible privilege of ministering regularly in a couple of home that do a great job of ‘drug and alcohol rehab.’ Actually they are Christian homes where Christ is introduced, people are saved, and they grow in Christ.

I think the thing I enjoy the most is watching folks come in still heavily burdened and broken from the effect of their sin. We all have that problem; the difference is that is in these cases it is more obvious. Some are literally just off the street where their lives have been devastated and nearly destroyed by the effects substance abuse.

I only minister there every couple of weeks, but have been there a couple of years. I have seen men and women come to chapel in terrible shape. When they come to Christ they start to grow and change. Faces soften, scars don’t seem so obvious. The ugliness of sin is slowly, but very surely, replaced by the beauty of salvation.

I didn’t know our Karen before salvation, but I do know her testimony. It sounds like her life had been wrecked by the ravages of sin. You would never guess it to see her now. She now wears the beauty of salvation like a crown.  

Though it may more visibly dramatic in the lives of some folks, we all have it. It is the kind of beauty that can make us identifiable to each other as soon as we meet. Praise God for giving us that wonderful beauty of salvation!