Monday, September 17, 2007

beauty

Beauty wherever it is found certainly attracts us. The danger lies in being distracted from the source of all beauty, in whom beauty lies, that is in God. We find a beauty in God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, as given to us in the Story in scripture, which gives the proper place and value of all other beauty. When God's beauty is not appreciated as the beauty we're chasing, then idolatry sets in in all kinds of ways, as we seek and crave other beauty. And ironically, all other beauty begins to lose its glory to us.

Beauty is a good gift from God in God's creation and not to be despised. But beauty is to be sought first in the Lord and in his word. Only then can we avoid the idolatry which puts something else as preferable to or, that is considered better and more beautiful than God.

Let us pray that we might be moved to catch a glimpse of the beauty of the Lord, and let us seek the Lord in all his beauty, so that we can rightly appreciate the beauty we find around us, to the glory of God we can find in beholding and enjoying more and more his beauty.

Where do we start in seeking God's beauty, except in the face of Jesus Christ? And what kind of action is this, do you think?

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

is this a trick question?

Anonymous said...

God makes beauty!
God is beauty.

i can look in the eyes of anyone and find Jesus, that is God's beauty.

i can look within and know the Holy Spirit is working there, that is God's beauty.

i can love my ememy and see God's beauty.

i can repent and believe in Jesus and see the beauty of God.

Ted M. Gossard said...

Nancy, Amen.

Anonymous said...

I was tracking on the same thoughts as you Ted. I like your point about finding beauty in the face of Jesus because it brings out the relational aspect of God.

God's beauty is found in his majestic creation, but it is also found in his person as Nancy mentions.

Ted M. Gossard said...

Sacred Vapor, Yes, the relational especially, along with who God is and God's works in Christ.

Ted M. Gossard said...

That reminds me of the perichoretic dance of the triune God, in love giving and communing in an interpersonal, interpenetrating way, God at heart being a relational being, as Father, Son and Spirit.