Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me

He ministered to a Scottish immigrant community in the region of Mosgiel.

When Boreham was given a trip home which took six weeks either way to complete he brought back a host of photographs and “lattern slides” for showing to his people and others in the same community. He entitled his talk “Afloat/Ashore.”

It was Boreham’s tactic to break up the evening’s proceedings with some solos and the singing of songs associated with the homeland, especially Scotland. Boreham claimed that as he listened to the singers he could name emphatically who had been born in the glens of Scotland and those who had been born under the Southern Cross. The sincerity in the voice was the giveaway.

Human Beings are equipped to carry few secrets. The master passions soon reveal themselves. The basic thoughts and intents of the heart escape inspite of one’s self discipline.

Joy reveals itself in body language, the glinting eye, the ability to laugh at little things and a shining countenance.

Sorrow though well disguised shows itself in sudden bouts of sullen silence, the eye wandering off into the middle distance and that sad sigh which cannot be held back.

The Gospels record an incident in which Jesus healed a man stricken with leprosy. Jesus did not at that stage of His ministry want to have His identity revealed so He asked the man to keep this as their secret.

Although Jesus urged this man to keep his secret, his secret delight at his deliverance was too much to conceal. The news spread and the crowds came and the end result was that the totality of his witness was to the praise of Jesus. In his confession and testimony, life and lip commingled impressively to the glory of the Saviour.

A word fitly spoken is winsome in the testimony of the Christian and it is especially so when a noble life confirms the studied, honest report. When the believers life and words are like our Lord’s garment “without seam” then the observing crowd can find no flaw in the witnessing Christian. This healed man is a fine example of how the friend of Jesus can commend their Master to the world - character and confession blending as one. The devotional chorus expresses a wide sentiment:

Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me.

All His wondrous compassion and purity;

O thou Spirit Divine all my nature refine,

Till the beauty of Jesus is seen in me.