How Beautiful

I love this song. It’s the best wedding song ever. It describes the beauty of my bride, the beauty of the Church, and the beauty of Christ, my Savior.

The first two verses speak to me about Christ as our example, One who serves others and who lived a life of sacrifice. In fact, Christ continues to live a sacrificial life interceding on our behalf to the Father day and night. While on earth, his mission led to the Cross of Calvary. He was born to die. The song describes Him as beautiful; and He is beautiful simply for the reason that He stepped into human history to accomplish what no other person, no other philosophy, no other act of mankind could accomplish. And that is to exact both justice and mercy at the same time once and for all — it is that for which he came to satisfy the penalty of our sins while at the same time demonstrating the boundless mercy of our Heavenly Father.

During this time in my life that God has brought me low to be humbled and broken in spirit, I hope– especially for my family members who didn’t see Christ in my life before– that they see the new tenderness in my eyes, the forgiveness that replaced bitterness and anger, and the sacrificial love that will empty my life for them. That’s what I feel when I listen to the third verse. I am driven to live not for myself, but will do anything no matter how humiliating or costly to show that the love and power of Christ is real in my life.

While the fourth verse speaks of the beauty of my precious bride, it mainly speaks of the beauty of the Church. It speaks of a beauty that comes about by transformed lives who serve others while eagerly waiting for the Savior to return. The light in the Church’s eyes is the fact that when you look into the eyes of the Church, the very soul of the Church, you see Christ Himself. I pray that when people look into the eyes of my soul they see Christ. I know I have a long ways to go before that is more of a reality. But I believe I’m on my way, starting where it’s most important; and that is in my own home and family.

The fifth verse is a call to follow the same mission of Christ, to show others that He is real, powerful, and there waiting for those who don’t know Him yet, as well as sustaining those who do. I want the taste of my words to be sweet when I tell others of the love of Christ, of His forgiveness. It will only taste that way if I also taste and eat of the bread of His life. May it be so, my beautiful Savior.

How Beautiful by Twila Paris

How Beautiful the hands that served
The Wine and the Bread and the sons of the earth
How beautiful the feet that walked
The long dusty road and the hill to the cross
How Beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful is the body of Christ

How Beautiful the heart that bled
That took all my sins and bore it instead
How beautiful the tender eyes
That choose to forgive and never despise
How beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful is the body of Christ

And as He lay down His life
We offer this sacrifice
That we will live just as He died
Willing to pay the price
Willing to pay the price

How Beautiful the radiant bride
Who waits for her Groom with His light in her eyes
How Beautiful when humble hearts give
The fruit of pure love so that others may live
How beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful is the body of Christ

How beautiful the feet that bring
The sound of good news and the love of the King
How Beautiful the hands that serve
The wine and the bread and the sons of the Earth
How Beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful is the body of Christ

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 9th, 2007 at 9:06 pm and is filed under Reflection and Spiritual. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.