THE LATEST FROM TIM SPYKSTRA:
To The Place Where I Belong
A 31-Day Devotional on John 13-17
THE LATEST FROM TIM SPYKSTRA:
To The Place Where I Belong
A 31-Day Devotional on John 13-17
Beauty will save the world
Have you heard the saying, “Beauty will save the world”? It comes from a novel “The Idiot” written by the famous Russian author Dostoevsky. In his novel Prince Myshkin, a Christ figure, goes against the norm of the rich and famous of his day and chooses the path of love. Myshkin is mocked as an idiot, for believing true beauty can change one’s heart.
I’m not sure what verse in the Bible Dostoevsky was thinking about when he coined that phrase, but the other day I was reading through Psalm 27, and when I got to verse 4 I thought this may be where he derived the idea.
“One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek, that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek Him in His temple.”
David’s number one prayer request was to be at home in the presence of the LORD just to “gaze on His beauty!” I these words could be why God called David “A man after His own heart.” We all know David struggled with a boat load of sins, yet he always found His way back to the Father’s heavenly home and gazed on the Beautiful One who loved Him and forgave Him.
And we all know the Father rewarded David’s seeking after true beauty by bringing through His family line a Son who would overcome the darkness of sin and all the demonic powers that seek to destroy true beauty.
We constantly encounter beauty breakers at break neck speed through media feeds which pump out fear and seek to seduce our hearts with false beauty. The idols of quick fix false beauty may be: money, pleasure, sex, self promotion, etc. and keep us locked in a cave of darkness groping around searching for some glimpse of the beauty our soul longs for.
As I pondered David and Dostoevsky the light went on. They are right… True Beauty is the only hope for our world to be saved. When we see a intricately designed flower, gaze on the glory of the Rocky Mountains, hold a new born baby, laugh and cry with our spouse, get a phone call from a concerned friend, we encounter the work of the Creator who wants us to know His beauty.
But because of the seed of sin that distorts our souls from seeing true beauty, the Creator entered His creation to reveal the source of all beauty. The paradox of it all is that the most beautiful experience of true beauty is found in the most vile of events, Jesus crucified on the cross. A blood, beaten, perfect God/man dying for sinners is the epicenter of beauty that saves the world. Here we have a picture of what perfect beautiful love looks like.
And three days later the empty tomb invites us to live in the beauty of perfect love for all eternity. That love we are offered is indescribable. When we receive such love, it awakens within the soul the beauty of God dwelling in us-which results in the beautification of His children. The more we His children gaze on His beauty the more we reflect His love to the world around us. Our hope is to become His beautiful light and love to a hopeless world.
Yes, the Beauty of Jesus’ love in us is the only hope for our hurting world. I challenge you to make Psalm 27:4 your One Thing, don’t take your eyes of Jesus. Let His beauty in you give hope to our world.
