Moved by Beauty
“Out of joy in their beauty they thought them gods,”
I love the sunshine. It’s one of my favorite things. I love how it warms me up. I love being slightly blinded by its rays on my cheek. I love getting tan from laying out. I love how cool I feel wearing sunglasses. I just love the sun. It’s one of my favorite ways to receive God’s love.
When I’m having a rough day and the sun bursts out of the clouds, I feel seen by the Father. I can’t help but smirk a little at the reminder that my Heavenly Father knows me and my love for the sunshine. God uses the sun to love me, and it’s a beautiful reflection of His love. But that’s all it is - it’s just a reflection. The sun doesn’t love me, the Father does. And I’m not meant to worship the sun; I’m meant to worship God. The sun is just a creation of God, and I’m not meant to worship creation -
I’m meant to worship the Creator.
When I encounter beauty, my heart leans towards it. When I see something lovely, I want to give myself to it. It is good that my sentimental heart recognizes beauty, but that’s not the end. When I am moved by beauty, I can’t stop there. I have to allow beauty to show me the beauty of the Maker. Sisters, we can’t afford to stop at beauty.
Beauty isn’t just for beauty’s sake. Beauty is meant to propel us toward the Father, to inspire awe at the work of the Father’s hands. Sisters, when we ache and long for beautiful things, it’s good. We’re meant to long for beauty because our God is beautiful and because...
Beauty is meant to draw us closer to God.
Let’s be honest, beauty can be really distracting. It’s easy to get wrapped up in beauty and forget the One who created it all. We fall in love with all sorts of things: sunshine, music, literature, art, sports, etc... And let’s not pretend that we haven’t marveled at a really handsome fella at least once before. But even though music, poetry, and men are awesome, my worship can’t land on a dude or a verse - it has to land on the Father.
Sisters, our worship has to land on the Father. And beauty is meant to help us. When we find beauty, we have to remember who made it. We have to remember the one who formed it, who brought it to life. We have to allow beauty to teach us about the Maker - about His goodness and His care, about His attention to detail and His thoughtfulness, about His joy in making something beautiful.
Sisters, I challenge you.
I challenge you to allow each beautiful thing you encounter this weekend to teach you about the Father. I challenge you to let beauty shape your understanding of the One who made it. I challenge you to allow your heart to be transformed. Let beauty point towards the beauty of Heaven. Let beauty point to the beauty of the Maker. Let beauty point to the beautiful, creative heart of the Father, and let beauty inspire your worship of the Creator.
Father,
Thank You for making beautiful things. Thank You for creating beauty - beautiful people, beautiful places, beautiful hearts, beautiful creation. We’re so grateful that we get to marvel at this world You’ve made.
Father, thank You for allowing us to see Your goodness and Your beauty. Please help us to recognize that everything good and beautiful is marked by You.
Please remind us that beautiful things are not beautiful for the sake of beauty - but for Your glory.
Jesus, we love You. Holy Spirit, we love You. Father, we love You. Help us to see Your beauty and to worship You with our lives. Amen.