Wednesday, August 12, 2009

"Beautiful Heart"

"How great is His beauty!" (Zechariah 9:17).

The existence of beautiful things presupposes an even more beautiful Heart that made them. I think of this often when considering the wonders of creation, and the existence also of our capacity to appreciate them.

"God... giveth us richly all things to enjoy" (I Timothy 6:17). Our Creator is fully aware of the beauty of His person, nature, character, and way. He is glad to be who and what He is, so glad, in fact, that He created a race of angelic and human beings to experience the wonder of His goodness. This speaks even more of the beautiful Heart, that despite God's perfect fulfillment in and of Himself, He nevertheless desires the existence of other hearts to know and enjoy His glory.

Our direct experience of such glory is limited at present, as we "see through a glass, darkly" (I Corinthians 13:12). The trusting heart in the Lord Jesus Christ can nevertheless experience the beauty of God to the degree that our hearts are filled to overflow. "Joy unspeakable and full of glory" is how the Apostle Peter termed the ongoing response of those who know the Lord Jesus, and who live in expectation that every day promises the wonder of God to be revealed in countless ways (I Peter 1:8). A sunrise or a sunset, the smile of a loved one, an illumination of Scripture, the opportunity to self sacrificially love, remembrance of Calvary - all and infinitely more of such displays of the beautiful Heart grace us with the very reason for our creation. God made us to know Him as He is, and to inevitably be amazed by His wonder to the degree that we love Him and desire to "let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us" (Psalm 90:17).

Life in Christ is a gallery of sublime art, painted, sculpted, composed, and joyfully springing forth from a sublime Heart. It is meant to be admired, appreciated, and apprehended for the purposes of leading us ever onward into the love of God. He is the essential beauty of all things, and for the eye that will see, the mind that will consider, and the heart that will know and appreciate, a life of wonder is to be fully expected. This day offers the possibility, and let us not fail to anticipate that an exhibition of the beautiful Heart will be on display for our rapture and enjoyment. We shall not be disappointed.

"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 inquire in His temple."

(Psalm 27:4)

"I will praise Thee, O LORD, with my whole heart; I will show forth all Thy marvelous works."

(Psalm 9:1)

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