my ugly on His beautiful

Last December, I was searching to find Jesus in Christmas…
I had written some thoughts to share and was looking for the perfect ‘Christmas’ image to go with it – but images of the cross and Easter kept coming up in my ‘Christmas’ searches.

As I browsed through the images of crosses and Christmas trees… one image caught my attention.
It was a picture of a crown of thorns.

“And after weaving a crown of thorns, they put it on His head…”
Matthew 27:29

I was reading in Genesis a while back… you know the story.
God created the heavens and the earth.
He created man… and woman.
He put them in the Garden of Eden and gave them everything they could ever need or want.
God had one rule… to not eat from a particular tree.

We know they didn’t obey… and after they ate from the tree, they hid.
They disobeyed.
And as much as God cannot stand to be near sin,
He sought them out and invited Adam and Eve to confession.

Then came the consequences of their sin…
Everything was cursed…
The serpent.
The woman.
The man.
The earth.

All because of sin.

And get this.
THIS stopped me in. my. tracks.

Look at Genesis 3:17-19
He told the Man,
“Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree
that I commanded you not to eat from, ‘Don’t eat from this tree,’
The very ground is cursed because of you…
The ground will sprout thorns and weeds,
you’ll get your food the hard way…”
(MSG)

Do you see it?
Thorns weren’t around before sin.

The thorns are part of the curse.

What an incredible symbol in that crown of thorns shoved onto our King’s head.
A symbol of sin… of consequence… the curse itself…

Not only does this God who loves me beyond measure transform my ugly to His incredible beautiful story of redemption… but, He wore my ugly.

Today, on Good Friday, I dwell on this…