Beauty
Beauty is not purely “in the eyes of the beholder.” Certainly, there is some subjective opinion on what is most beautiful, but true unbridled BEAUTY is a reality to pursue and enjoy.
I want to play all my cards right at the top of this conversation. Here in our Backyard Conversations, we have been exploring the transcendentals of truth and beauty and wisdom and goodness. Let’s just say it like it is and work backwards from there. Pastor Timothy Keller is going to help:
“All the beauty we have looked for in art or faces or places—and all the love we have looked for in the arms of other people—is only fully present in God himself.”
– – Timothy Keller, Walking with God through Pain and Suffering
We are, of course, and should be, infatuated with beauty. Beauty is transcendent. It belongs to all of humanity. What is fascinating is not how differently various worldwide cultures identify beauty but how similarly we all see beauty. We have far more in common in the enjoyment of beauty than we do in arguing of its differences. Most all of humanity would say that this manifestation of creation is beautiful:
The English romantic poet Keats, in his Ode on a Grecian Urn reminds us that, ” ‘Beauty is truth, truth beauty’ – that is all Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.”
Beauty will save the world,” says Prince Myshkin in Dostoevsky’s curiously titled, The Idiot. Immediately after his triumphal statement about beauty, he is asked, “Just which beauty will save the world?” That is a much harder question, but the Prince answers the response not with a what response but a **who response *as to which beauty will save the world. “If Beauty will save the world,” in Dostoevsky’s view, “it will be a person*.”
‘Beauty’ longs for us to know it and to be staggered by it and intimidated by it. True beauty, like a light on our path, gives us hope and peace and a sense of the divine.
“We do not want merely to see beauty, though, God knows, even that is bounty enough. We want something else which can hardly be put into words — to be united with the beauty we see, to pass into it, to receive it into ourselves, to bathe in it, to become part of it.” – – C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory
But beauty is under assault! Where are all the beautiful art, film, literature, and music? Here is the raw truth: Anything beautiful and good that God gives us
Can be made into perversity that some will call ‘beauty.’
Let’s start with the obvious.
The human body, created as the masterpiece of God’s creation, was labeled very good by the Creator Himself in Genesis 2 (meaning exceptional, perfect, wonderous). It is a thing of beauty which has been hijacked by the media. ‘Beauty’ it seems, has become synonymous with sexuality to the point of pornography. Young ladies and even young girls are barraged with images on Tik Tok, Instagram and so many other social media platforms insisting that outside beauty, as defined by the world, has nothing to do with our character or values or dreams and hopes. The tools of this false beauty are weight loss, drugs, Botox, implants, tattoos, and designer clothes.
To be sure none of this is new. Ancient Assyrians and Babylonians and Egyptians and Greeks and Romans (no doubt dozens of other ancient cultures) dressed and adorned themselves to look more beautiful. But I think we are more effective than previous generations at promoting this lie. The lie that says, “What is on the outside is more important than what our hearts and minds contain.” Now even young men are getting implants of various forms to conform to an image designed by social influencers and designers.
Art and literature have become absent of traditional beauty and have become instruments of obscenity and insult. Broadway theater has become a platform for degrading social ‘statements’ and what passes as literature today refuses to engage our minds and instead strives to engage our glands and pleasure centers.
Television and radio, sitcoms and pop music are predominantly boring with the same overworked themes and raunchy humor (my opinion of course). Words that used to get you fired on the airwaves are now filling our so called ‘family shows’ with violent language and violent images.
Ok, enough of my ranting and let’s not lose sight of our main point. The idea of beauty has been lost on us and we have been willing to settle for mere hormonal entertainment rather than the outstandingly beautiful.
Art museums, botanical gardens, star gazing, classical music, dance and the symphony, poetry and literature have so much to offer. Someone saying, “I just find them boring” should tell you that they have become addicted to the mundane and potentially the obscene.
Beauty is found in God first and then, out of His character, He bestows it upon us and gives us the capacity to create the beautiful as well:
“The sweetest thing in all my life has been the longing—to reach the Mountain, to find the place where all the beauty came from.” – – C. S. Lewis
A blogger I found wrote this:
I recently came across this great turn of phrase in speaking of God: “behold His irresistible beauty, remarkable splendor, and unfathomable love.”
What a compelling thought!
The book (“Insurgence” by Frank Viola) went on to say, “It’s essential that we become fascinated, gripped, and captivated by the Lord. If not, we will struggle with boredom, and our hearts will be vulnerable to pursue other things.”
The beauty of the Lord.
For years I have prayed, “O Lord, capture my focus and captivate me!” In other words, “draw my attention to You and then enthrall me with Yourself.” It is as the great song declares:
Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face. And the things of this world will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.
I’ve found this to be true as well!
I trust you will seek the beautiful face of God and we will return next time to unpack Beauty for a bit longer here at Backyard Conversations.
And as a PS . . .
I invite you to our One Hundred Fold Ministries web site where you will find Kingdom Offerings, our podcast forum. In our most recent offering, I am telling a children’s story that I wrote 30 years ago – an allegory of God’s Saving Son; the Sinless Savior.
Peace to you.
Dave
