Undefiled Beauty

I've been really studying the beginning of 1 Peter this week, because we're starting a new Bible study for the fall term of Sunday school. I'm not sure how all of the versions line up, but I was really struck by the triad of words in verse 4, I think, describing our eternal inheritance with Christ: imperishable, undefiled, and unfading (ESV).

Maybe it's because this time of year always catches me soaking up more than my fair share of the natural beauty surrounding our home, and it just seems so wonderful, so sacred, and yet...it's not undefiled. If such beautiful and breathtaking scenery here on our fallen Earth can be so captivating, can you even begin to imagine the magnitude of that which is completely and totally undefiled and fresh and new in Heaven? I could get lost for hours trying to wrap my mind around that picture!

It could be that, or maybe I'm still reflecting on my recent baptism. As I was sharing my testimony with the congregation, the thought completely overwhelmed me of what a beautiful redemption Jesus has already started (and is continuing to work) in my life! My past was so painfully ugly, and I don't say that because I still feel guilty (actually I feel quite forgiven!), but Jesus has taken away all of that filth and blossomed some of the most beautiful and cherished realities that any human could ever imagine (I use the word blossom as a verb, because every time I try to come up with a better description, all I can see in my mind is a big flower blooming in some sort of time-lapse sequence!). What I'm trying to say, is that I can hardly wrap my mind around a redeemed sort of beauty, but to imagine one that is completely pure and undefiled in the first place...wow!

So anyway, those are my current thoughts. If I blog more in the next couple of months, there's a good chance that my words will still have something to do with 1 and 2 Peter, but that's just a risk that comes with the adventure! :oD