What’s the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen?
Humans are drawn to beautiful things. It’s how we are wired. Brain scans reveal that the sight of an attractive product can actually trigger the motor cerebellum, a part of the brain that governs hand movements. Beauty can literally move us. It has a way of drawing us in. Colors, patterns, designs.
We especially love observing beauty in nature and in other humans. Of course, these are a mere shadow of the breathtaking beauty of Jesus Himself.
Jonathon Edwards (a theologian from the 1700s) said, “a sight of the divine beauty of Christ, bows the wills and draws the hearts of men.”
He is absolutely radiant, majestic, gentle and humble. Full of purity and light. His heart pulses and bursts with compassion, mercy, goodness and love. He exudes peace, tranquility, safety and rest.
Is this you how you experience Jesus? Have you had divine moments of the Spirit that overwhelm your senses? An experience of Him that floods your body and soul with waves of sensation…goose bumps that start at the top of your head and work their way down to your feet?
He is exhilarating. Intoxicating. Unable to be perfectly described…only…experienced.
A God so perfect and beautiful in every way, Who should be naturally and totally repulsed by our sin but “given their sinfulness, they are shocked to find that their sins cause Him to be all the more ready to plunge them into His heart…. the surprise of a Christ for whom their very sins draw Him in rather than push Him away.” (Gentle and Lowly by Dane Ortlund).
We struggle to slow down in life, always rushing from here to there. It’s me. I’m guilty. But I know that taking regular time to ponder the beauty of Jesus will change me/us. Trust me. Together, we will desire more and more of Him.
I beg you to take the time. Meditate on who He is, His character, His heart. Allow His beauty to draw you in. Get to know Him, not just things about Him. There will be nothing else in life that even remotely comes close to this kind of intimacy with our Savior.
“One thing have I asked 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 gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.” (King David Ps 27:4)