I've been thinking for the last few days about beauty. I listened to an album that was beautiful, which led me to another song that was especially beautiful. Unbelievably, I had a beautiful meeting the other day. (Those are so few and far between that they should be highlighted and commemorated!) I'm constantly thinking about how beautiful my wife is. Our kids are beautiful, although more so when they're sleeping. This picture out my window is beautiful.
All of this beauty brings two questions to mind: Why? and Who cares?
Why did God make everything beautiful? He didn't need to. I make things all the time that function, but that aren't pretty. I can't remember the last time I made a beautiful spreadsheet. And as incredibly beautiful as some chefs are able to make food, my food simply tastes good and gives nutrition. But it ain't pretty. Yet, when we look around at the world, there is beauty in every corner. Micro-organisms under a microscope are beautiful. The Grand Canyon is beautiful. Leaves budding are beautiful. The way the human eye moves is beautiful. What's the purpose? Why not just make things function?
The short answer, of course, is that everything is beautiful because God Himself is beautiful. Romans 1:20 says that all creation declares the glory of God, and that the world reveals, to those who are willing to see, God's invisible attributes and divine nature. The beauty of the world points us directly and purposely to the beauty of God.
The corallary question, then, is "Who cares?" Not in a crass way, but what practical impact does the beauty of God have on my life? Why does it matter?
That's where I've really been captured over the last few days. I've been thinking about how some people "encounter God" and really aren't changed much at all, while others encounter God and are truly transformed. What's the difference? Why is it that some people seem to be Christians for years, but never seem to be changed by Him? The answer, I think, can be found in the idea of beauty.
Only beauty can transform us.
Moral instruction can't change us. Oh, when we learn the rules, our behavior might change, but we're not truly transformed. Our hearts are simply masked, at least for a time, with proper behavior. However, moral instruction and boundaries, apart from a vision of transcendent beauty, will only produce empty and hypocritical actions. We start to behave differently, but all that behavior does is cover up our sick and broken hearts, driving our sinful actions deeper into hiding.
When does transformation truly occur? It doesn't occur when we've learned, internalized, or even memorized a series of mental propositions that follow a logical progression. It doesn't occur when we've put up boundaries and fences throughout our life so that we can't possibly do something wrong. It doesn't occur when we sanitize our lives, schedules, language, entertainment choices, and our circle of friends so that we no longer come into contact with anything that smacks of the world. No, transformation will only ever occur when we are truly captured--overwhelmed--with the beauty of Jesus. Until that happens, we will constantly press back into the law and find that we always need more of it: higher fences, tighter filters, and the like.
However, once the beauty of Jesus goes from being a theoretical idea to an experienced, passionate reality, our hearts begin to be transformed. We look more like Him. We act more like Him. We love those things that He loves. The fences and boundaries and filters may all still be there, but we'd never know, because we don't get anywhere close to them.
Religion isn't beautiful. God is beautiful. When the church clearly reflects Jesus, she is beautiful. When she conforms to religion, the church loses both its beauty and its place in the process of transformation.
May we all be captured by the beauty of Jesus--and truly transformed.
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