“he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by others; a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity; and as one from whom others hide their faces he was despised, and we held him of no account.” Isaiah 53:2-3
So often we tend to gaze into the spiritual mirror seeing the reflected face and all we can think is failure, unworthy, sinful. Our sins so stain our soul that we can hardly imagine seeing the beautiful face of God reflected in our image.
It is in these moments we need to change our focus. Look deeper past the surface reflection and focus your gaze upon the cross to see the reflection of true love looking back at you. We see the face of Christ Crucified – the suffering servant.
He looks back from the cross to look upon your face and says you’re beautiful.
No doubt sin scars and threatens to destroy the beauty which the Father gave to us. But, even less doubt should be in your heart that His Divine Mercy restores ALL the beauty that the Father imagined.
“But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed.” Isaiah 53:5
In His passion, Jesus takes upon Himself our hideous visage. He does this as an act of pure mercy and love. We are healed by His bruises and scars. He gives us back the image and reflection of God the Father, the image God gave to us of Himself.
I enjoyed this one. I have seen that Face of ill repute in myself many times. Praise God and thanks be to Jesus that I have learned to look deeper to Jesus and know that I am forgiven.
Thanks for sharing Ed.