Have you ever noticed that we humans seek after beauty and glory? There is a deep longing within us to see beauty, to feel exhilarated by Beauty. We gaze at a sunset or a sunrise and awe at it’s beauty with the colors lifting our hearts with a sense of magnificence. Some will climb to the top of a cliff to gaze across the earth feeling very small; yet, very awed by the wonder of it all. We are overwhelmed with joy at the miracle of how two tiny cells become a living, breathing baby. We seek after beauty and that which is glorious. Built within our nature is that desire to see beauty; yet, few stop to realize that what we seek is the greatest display of beauty, love, joy, righteousness, justice, and Glory–which is found only in God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The creator of all that is gloriously beautiful, the Father of glory is the fulfillment of all that our heart seeks and desires.
Ephesians 1: 17 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory,
David wrote:
Psalm 27: 4 One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in his temple.
That beauty and glory He gives us glimpses of from all of nature that surrounds us. Although those glimpses are minute in comparison to Him. Have you ever looked at a rainbow, a baby, or a sunset and felt a unexplained sense of majesty within your heart?
Romans 1:
20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead
Then Christ came to earth to both display the magnificent Glory of God both in His Righteousness and Justice, while displaying the beauty of perfect grace and mercy to all who would accept His gift of salvation. Within Christ we saw the perfection of dichotomy that many psychologists have written as being the most desirable and beautiful of features harmoniously fit into one. " He was a man of sorrow (Isaiah 53:3; Luke 19:41); yet, He is the fullness of joy (Philippians 4:4, John 15:11, John 17:13, Hebrew 12:12, Matthew 25: 21, Hebrews 1:8). He is the lamb like lion: the Conquering Lion of Tribe of Judah who became the sacrificial lamb that was slain. (Revelations 5) He is perfect justice fulfilled who provides perfect grace and mercy. He is Supreme Sovereignty (Mark 4:41, Luke 13:31-32, John 10:17-18; Luke 22: 31-32; Luke 22: 52-53; Mark 14:61-62) who became submissive to pain, suffering, and death that He might pay the price for you and me. “* There is no greater beauty or Glory that can fill the crevices of our heart than that of Christ. If a sunset inspires you to awe, gaze for a moment at Christ. *(excerpt from my book Ultimate Inspiration-God’s Plan of Love)
2 Corinthians 4:6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
So, what does this mean for us? Lay aside your search and desire for counterfeit joy and counterfeit beauty to seek after the only joy and beauty that can fulfill your heart.
Jonathan Edwards wrote The Christian Pilgrim in September 1733 (which I urge you to obtain a copy of the full writings of this). In it he better defines what I have been saying.
"Heaven is that place alone where our highest end and highest good is to be
obtained. God hath made us for himself. “Of him, and through him, and to him are all
things.” Therefore, then do we attain to our highest end, when we are brought to God: but
that is by being brought to heaven, for that is God’s throne, the place of his special presence.
There is but a very imperfect union with God to be had in this world, a very imperfect
knowledge of him in the midst of much darkness: a very imperfect conformity to God,
mingled with abundance of estrangement. Here we can serve and glorify God, but in a very
imperfect manner: our service being mingled with sin, which dishonors God. — But when we
get to heaven (if ever that be), we shall be brought to a perfect union with God and have
more clear views of him. There we shall be fully conformed to God, without any remaining
sin: for “we shall see him as he is.” There we shall serve God perfectly and glorify him in an
exalted manner, even to the utmost of the powers and capacity of our nature. Then we shall
perfectly give up ourselves to God: our hearts will be pure and holy offerings, presented in a
flame of divine love.
God is the highest good of the reasonable creature, and the enjoyment of him is the
only happiness with which our souls can be satisfied. — To go to heaven fully to enjoy God, is
infinitely better than the most pleasant accommodations here. Fathers and mothers,
husbands, wives, children, or the company of earthly friends, are but shadows. But the
enjoyment of God is the substance. These are but scattered beams, but God is the sun.
These are but streams, but God is the fountain. These are but drops, but God is the ocean. —
Therefore it becomes us to spend this life only as a journey towards heaven, as it becomes
us to make the seeking of our highest end and proper good, the whole work of our lives, to
which we should subordinate all other concerns of life. Why should we labor for, or set our
hearts on anything else, but that which is our proper end, and true happiness?
4. Our present state, and all that belongs to it, is designed by him that made all things,
to be wholly in order to another world. — This world was made for a place of preparation for
another. Man’s mortal life was given him, that he might be prepared for his fixed state. And
all that God has here given us, is given to this purpose. The sun shines, the rain falls upon
us, and the earth yields her increase to us for this end. Civil, ecclesiastical, and family
affairs, and all our personal concerns, are designed and ordered in subordination to a future
world, by the maker and disposer of all things. To this therefore they ought to be
subordinated by us."
Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) | September 1733 | Works, Vol 2 of 2. 243-246 MANNA CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP | PRINCETON UNIVERSITY | December 2010 | www.princeton.edu/manna
2 Corinthians 3: 18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
When we begin to see the Glory of Christ and that becomes our focus; we too become transformed into His image–step by step, glory by glory, tiny glimpses at first. The more we seek Him, see His Glory, and revel in His love the more discontent with our own inability to love Him as we should. We may at times become more frustrated with our own frailties and failures along this path; yet, remember this. My whole life, even if I live to 100, is but a blink of my eye compared to the eternity that I will spend with Him. This entire journey is preparing me to see the fullness of His magnificent Glory, His unconditional love for me, and His everlasting joy. So, however, dim the glass image may seem at times, no matter my own frailties; my heart will be ever "Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God." Hebrews 12:2.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fH8bV7rUVaU (Preview)