Zac Poonen 
Beauty for Ashes [EPUB ebook] 
The Christ-life for the Self-life

God had a great and glorious purpose for man when He created him. Of all created beings, man alone was created with the capacity to share in God’s life and to partake of the Divine nature. But he could enjoy this privilege only as he voluntarily chose to live a life centred in God.
God’s purpose for man did not change when Adam fell. The coming of Christ into the world was in order that we might be delivered from this self-centred life that we have inherited, and once again have the opportunity to partake of the tree of life. This is the abundant life that Christ offers us.
Isaiah had prophesied that Christ, when He came, would set people free from bondage. Man is bound not only by the Devil but also by his self-life. Christ came to set us free from both. Isaiah said that Christ would give those he liberated, beauty to replace their ashes. Ashes are a most appropriate symbol of the self-life – picturing its ugliness and its uselessness. Christ offers to give us the beauty of His own life to replace the ashes of our self-life. What a privilege! Yet many Christians do not enjoy this fully. Why not?
How can we enjoy it? That is the subject of this book. Read on…