*Shine Shine*

READ:

Acts 6:9-15 All who sat in the council, looking steadfastly at him, saw his face as the face of an angel. —Acts 6:15

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 is seen in me. —Orsborn

When Stephen was brought before the Jewish council for interrogation, “they were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke” (Acts 6:10). As he was being accused, they “saw his face as the face of an angel” (v.15). By God’s transforming grace, we too can have a daily beauty in our lives. As we walk prayerfully in the Spirit, our faces increasingly reflect the beauty of Jesus.

A distinguished Bible scholar of the 19th century, J. B. Lightfoot, was described by one of his devoted students as “startlingly ugly: a stout little man with a grotesque figure and a squint.” But that same student also said that Lightfoot was “the best man I have ever encountered, and I say this deliberately after the experience of many years. In a day or two . . . his face appeared the most beautiful and lovable thing imaginable.”

When you look in a mirror, what do you see? Do you see a lovely reflection? A handsome face? Or do you see a plain or unattractive countenance? We want to give those who behold us what my friend called an aesthetic blessing. But what about the beauty of holiness? Are others blessed by the beauty that flows through us from Christ?