This morning I saw a picture in my gardening magazine of the most beautiful flowering tree. My breath was literally quite taken at the beauty of its colorful yellow blossoms. But, upon closer research I found that there was an enormous “agony”, if you will, to having this particular beautiful flowering tree. You see this tree, for all of its beauty on the outside has massive thorns looming just under the blooms. These thorns can actually grow up to 10 inches in length. This tree is known as a “Jerusalem Thorn” tree.
It’s funny how my eye was drawn straight away to the blossoms, the exterior. I was so taken by their beauty that what was lurking on the inside of all the beauty simply went unnoticed. Isn’t that true of a lot of things. King David found himself looking upon and craving the beauty of Bathsheba and fell pray to the ugliness of sin that lay in wait for him, ensnaring him into the darkness of murder, death and adultery. Eve saw the beautiful apple and secondarily noticed the serpent that cunningly caused her and Adam and the rest of humanity to forever deal with the reality of pain and death.
There is beauty in this life but many times there is the agony that can come along with the beauty. Sacrifices made to make things better can be painful. The allure of sin can be tempting and hard to overcome but there is also the agony that follows temptations selfish decisions. This is where love steps in! All the hasty, knee-jerk, self-centered and self fulfilling moments are redeemable and it was an act of love that set the stage for the beauty to shine amidst the agony of the price. And there is always a price! But, the price was covered, paid in full and it was done by the greatest act of love ever recorded. And “yes” there was agony that we can’t even begin to imagine that followed. In the words of singer/songwriter Stephen Curtis Chapman. . . .
“And it's beautiful agony that He believes it's not too late for me. This is how love wins, every single time, climbing high upon a tree where someone else should die. This is how Love heals, the deepest part of you, letting Himself bleed into the middle of your wounds. This is what Love says, standing at the door, you don't have to be who you've been before. Silenced by His voice, death can't speak again, This is how Love wins!”
Beautiful Agony redeems! For all the agony that we know He went through, a painful crown formed from a beautiful tree, made the beauty of that act illustrate His great love for us. No deception here, just a love that remains and a hope that forever lingers leaving a beautiful scent for all who stay and get lost in its fragrance. This is how love wins!
