Sackcloth Fashion

The Lone Flower

Disgusting. Putrid. Alone. Deformed… Come to the place where the flower will stay.

There is a constant tug of war that Christians can find themselves in. The world wants nothing more than to pull you away from God with distractions and temptations—while God wants nothing more than to love you and be in a relationship with you.

The temptations of this world are so easy to see and experience. You do not have to try very hard to stumble into sinful thoughts and actions. The beauty of God and His grace is often far more difficult to perceive. The busyness of our schedule or the weight of the world around us can cloud our perception of both the character and the work of God in our lives. The Apostle Paul recognizes this in his prayer as he prays over the church in the first chapter of Ephesians:

Having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might. ~ Ephesians 1:18-19

His prayer for the church of Ephesus was to look past the things of this world that seem like appealing pursuits—our pride, our glory, our desires—and to see them for the fading and failing hope that they truly are. Paul is pushing the church to set our minds and hearts on God Himself by constantly taking time to make note of the good and gracious things that He gives us on a daily basis.

The greatness of His power can be seen everywhere (Romans 1:20), but we need to be people who take time from our hectic lives to stop and acknowledge the power that God has over both all of creation and toward those of us that have trusted our lives to Him. God and His beauty are sprinkled all around us, so what are you going to do to fully know the hope that God is?

What can you do right now to stop and smell the flower of God’s grace?