"Intrinsic within God"
The beauty of God is truly something to behold. As a matter of fact, it should be the “one thing” we desire above all else. David in his Psalms openly reminded all of us who would follow from generation to generation of his desire, “ONE THING I have desired of the Lord, that will I seek…to behold the beauty of the Lord” (Ps. 27:4). God’s beauty is closely connected (if not synonymous at times) with His glory, His majesty, His presence, His splendor, and very near to His holiness.
So if we are, according to the message last week, to desire, to ask, and to seek His beauty, how can it be found? Where is it?
INTRINSIC IN GOD
First of all, beauty is intrinsic within God. It is an essential part of His nature, His makeup, His DNA. It is not something that he has possession of (like holding it in His hands), it is something “He is.” Inherent within Himself is beauty and splendor. And I think we can safely say there is no beauty beyond, or outside of, or other than God. Any “perceived” beauty apart from God is a false perception due to our sinful and rebellious selfish nature. It is simply “masquerading” as beauty or is a distortion of His Divine beauty.
Beauty is kinda’ like pleasure. God grants plenteous pleasures in life. However, on the surface there are what appear to be “delights” in life but, when unveiled, discovered to be only impersonators of godly pleasures. They are “wolves in sheep’s clothing.” These tantalizing temptations are detrimental and destructive. They never satisfy our deepest desires. Instead of quenching our thirst, they leave us parched and dehydrated.
Christians throughout history have used the symbol of the Greek mythological creatures, “the sirens,” to describe attractive yet deadly temptations. The sirens were beautiful creatures that lured sailors to their shipwreck and death through their enchanting music. In the myth of the Argonauts, Jason was curious to hear their song but realized the danger. So he ordered all of his sailors to plug their ears but tie him securely to the mast. When Jason heard the music he loudly ordered his men to untie him, but they heeded his initial commands and bound him even tighter.
God is genuine, pure, delightful, innocent beauty. It cannot be matched.
SEEK BEAUTY…SEEK GOD
As Christians we want to be logical regarding our faith. So, to be logical (and rather obvious), if we want to find beauty, where do we seek? That is correct. We seek God, the source of all beauty. This was the message from last week. There are numerous Bible verses which admonish us to seek the Lord. To recite a couple more…
“Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near.” (Isaiah 55:6, ESV)
“Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually!”
(I Chronicles 16:11, ESV)
To summarize as simply as possible, to “see,” to obtain, to receive the beauty or glory of God in our lives, we must seek after God Himself with our whole hearts, minds, souls, and bodies. And when I say “seek,” I do not mean to imply a onetime deal! This is a continual seeking, a searching until, for example, we find our lost item.
There are currently several shows on television which detail people’s search for costly items. Sometimes entire crews are searching for lost treasure purported to be worth millions of dollars. To find something that valuable, tens of thousands of dollars are invested, months if not years of time and energy, prior exhaustive study of the history of the treasure, a detailed plan, and then a sometimes dangerous search itself.
I recently preached a sermon regarding the parable of a field that is found to contain a vast treasure. So the treasure seeker sells all of his earthly possessions in order to purchase that field. It is worth that much! We must determine in our hearts and minds that this beauty or glory of the Lord resting upon our lives is priceless. It is worth the search! The treasure is so valuable, we should surrender everything else in life (if necessary) in order to find it…or Him. Seeking God should be our number one priority.