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Christians around the world face the same challenge each morning: How do we live the beautiful Christian life in a world where ugliness exists? In order to face this challenge, perhaps we need to define our terms: What is beautiful? What is ugly?
Is beauty in the eye of the beholder?
The common belief that “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” really doesn’t tell the whole story. We certainly wouldn’t leave goodness or truth up to each person to decide. We know that Scripture teaches that God is good and true. Jesus Christ proclaimed this explicitly during his earthly ministry. In answering the rich young man who called him, “Good Teacher,” Jesus said,
“Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.” (Mark 10:18)
Jesus also claimed to be the truth. He said to Thomas,
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life.” (John 14:6)
If goodness and truth are grounded in the character of God and revealed through his Son Jesus Christ, what about beauty? Throughout Scripture, the Lord is presented as beautiful.
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. (Ps. 27:4)
Just like goodness and truth, we can explore what is beautiful by seeking God himself. And just as goodness and truth make demands on our lives, so does beauty. While each of us may prefer one type of art or literature or music more than another, there is a standard of beauty to which we should aspire.
Knowing God comes from seeking to understand and love him through the ways he reveals himself to us: through his creation, his Word, and his Son Jesus Christ.
God’s Creation: Visible testimonies to beauty tell us who the invisible God is.
In creation God shows us beauty both visible and invisible. In what is visible we observe diversity and unity. We see complexity and simplicity. We see intricate designs that work together in harmony. It is interesting to think about the recurring refrain in the creation narrative. After speaking each element of the created order into existence, “God saw that it was good” (Gen. 1). It seems that what is true and good and beautiful are interrelated, parts of an integrated whole that is harmonious. If we just followed the strand of harmony as a dimension of beauty, we would travel a long way in our pursuit of understanding how to live the beautiful Christian life.
These visible testimonies to beauty tell us who the invisible God is. The apostle Paul teaches that God’s attributes are also on display in creation;
For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. (Rom. 1:19)
We call this general revelation, which tells us important things about God and ourselves. While the “heavens declare the glory of God” (Ps. 19), it is plain that we are guilty before him. This lack of peace or harmony between God and man is evident to everyone, but we need special revelation to know God’s plan of redemption.
God’s Word: We discover a beautiful story of redemption in the Bible.
All Scripture points to Jesus Christ. Here again we see harmony in all the parts of the Bible in revealing one grand story of salvation. In his word, God tells a beautiful story of redemption, where the glorious Son of God sets his glory aside to take on the ugliness of our sin and shame.
This is a beautiful story because it manifests the glory of God in all his goodness, mercy, and justice. A holy God must punish sin. A merciful God takes that sin upon himself out of love for the world. What is broken when Adam and Eve sinned is restored to harmony through the gospel. The ugliness of sin and death are defeated at the cross. The end of the story as revealed in the book of Revelation tells of a new heaven and a new earth (Rev. 21) where
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there by mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. (Rev. 21:4)
God’s Son: Jesus is our beautiful Savior.
In God’s Son, God manifests his beauty with the greatest clarity. While Isaiah prophesied that the Messiah would have “no form or comeliness” and “no beauty that we should desire him” (Isa. 53), his victory at the resurrection and ascension is glorious. He is indeed our beautiful Savior. The book of Hebrews tells of Jesus’ glory:
Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. (Heb. 1:1-3)
Living the beautiful Christian life involves growing in loving adoration of and obedience to the risen Christ.
Since the Lord is the source of beauty, all that is contrary to his nature is ugly. Anything that is in rebellion to his created order, his word, and the lordship of his Son is ugly. This includes what is seen and unseen both in individual actions and societal norms. We observe urban decay and poor stewardship of the environment, which disrupt God’s original design for harmony. There is also great incivility in our society, which can be called “ugly behavior,” that also breaks down the civil order and social harmony that gives glory to God as King.
These outward signs of ugliness need to be brought to the cross for forgiveness. They flow from the invisible ugliness within our hearts that needs to be put to death as we put off the old man and put on the new man daily. The apostle Paul admonishes us to put on the new self:
But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth….Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. (Col. 3:8, 12)
Putting on the new man means putting on Christ. Each Sunday we seek Jesus by joining in corporate worship where we receive the means of grace and worship him in the beauty of holiness (Ps. 29). Throughout the week we seek him in the reading of Scripture and prayer. God’s grace will allow us to heed Paul’s further admonition,
And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. (Col. 4:14)
The beautiful Christian life is one of growing in loving adoration of and obedience to the risen Christ, and the Holy Spirit will bear fruit in us in his work of conforming us to the image of the Son.
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Julie Southgate delights in contemplating the beauty of God in Jesus Christ and pursuing the practical implications of His glory in everyday life.
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