The Beauty of God

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“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.” (PSALM 27:4)

Beauty is difficult to define. We know what it does to us. It’s the way the swelling crescendo of a symphony moves us. It’s the way the colors of a painting awe us. It’s the way a canyon aglow takes our breath away. Beauty calls to us from symmetry, color, harmony, mastery, skill, grace, excellence, and goodness. We ache for beauty and ache to be truly beautiful. Advertisers know it. They manipulate us through it with clever ads that whisper, “If you buy this you will be beautiful.” These ploys work because our longing for beauty is so strong. Why is this?

We long for beauty because we long for God. God is the source of everything good and beautiful. And one day that longing for beauty will be fully sated as we gaze upon God. In the meantime, as moms in post-baby bodies, it’s easy to chase illusive cultural ideals of beauty. But while it’s good to be healthy, and beauty has its place, we don’t have to get on the treadmill of the world’s overblown value of personal beauty. Our hearts can rest knowing that the lifelong craving for beauty will be satisfied as we turn our gaze fully upon Him: infinite in His perfections, beautiful in His holiness, radiant in His glory. We will behold the beauty our souls crave and be made like Him.