The Beauty You Were Made For

If you don’t follow me on social media, I’m excited to share that my family and I just moved to Boston to so I could take on an assignment as the Associate Pastor for a beautiful community called The Table Boston.

And, as with any move, my last two weeks have been primarily about discovering new rhythms, routines, and (because I like to run) running routes.

On one of my first runs in our new neighborhood, I took a spur-of-the-moment left turn and found myself on a narrow stretch of land, surrounded by sparkling ocean water on both sides, a view of the skyline to my left, and a classic New England lighthouse to the right. Waves were crashing on the rocks below me, that sticky-sweet smell of salt filled my nose, and the warm sun hit my face.

As I looked out on the expanse before me, I was suddenly struck with a sense of right-ness that I hadn’t felt since the disorientation that came from suddenly uprooting our lives in Atlanta, and all of the stress of boxes and moving.

I had a simple thought: I was made for this.

Our souls were made for a regular intake of beauty. My vision for the past few weeks had been crowded with the dull brown of moving boxes, bureaucratic forms on my computer screen, and the number call screen at the Registry of Motor Vehicles office.

There was something about gazing at that sheer surprising beauty of the sun hitting the waves that felt reorienting, and for the first time in awhile, I felt a faint sense of the presence of God that I’d embarrassingly gone accustomed to living without in the midst of the chaos of everything.

In the Gospel of John, Jesus’s ministry begins with John the Baptist’s declaration to his disciples: “Look, here is the Lamb of God!” (1:35).

As John’s disciples decide to leave John and follow Jesus, Jesus’s first invitation is simple: “Come and see” (1:39).

In other words, the beginning of their discipleship to Jesus is simply seeing Him. They are invited to look and see.

And there’s something so compelling about what they see that they drop everything — family and livelihood — to see more.

In the Book of Revelation, John writes more about the beauty of Jesus: he writes of eyes like a flame of fire, hair that is white like snow, and the very throne of God that’s surrounded with emerald rainbows, flashes of lightning, and a sea of glass like crystal.

In fact, the entire storyline of the Bible ends with John’s shocking declaration that that very throne and that very face will be in the midst of the people:

The beginning and end of discipleship is simply seeing Jesus.

The beginning and end of prayer is simply seeing Jesus.

When sixteenth-century St Teresa of Avila is teaching her young nuns to pray, she encourages them: “I’m not asking you to do anything more than look at Him” (Way 26:3).

We can get caught in formulas and the busyness of life, when really prayer is as simple as seeing Him.

We were made for a regular intake of beauty because we were made for Jesus, the most Beautiful One to whom the beauty of creation points.

There are some who teach on the Beauty of Jesus and who encourage people to close their eyes and picture Jesus — and I think we should!

But personally, I also love prayer walking in nature, taking in the beauty, and letting it prophesy about the beauty found in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. The beauty of creation points to the beauty of Jesus and the beauty of Jesus is revealed in the beauty of nature (see Psalm 19). And simply seeing beauty and letting it become prayer is what we were made for.

I’d love to invite us to pray today:

• Begin by taking some deep breaths in and out. Perhaps as you breathe in pray “Come,” and as you breathe out pray “Holy Spirit.”

• Once you feel settled, begin to picture the face of Jesus in your mind. You can picture the Galilean Jesus of the Gospels, or the Resurrected Jesus of Revelation 1!

• Then, simply gaze. Fall in love. Let His beauty nourish your soul.

I love hearing from those of you who are coming alive and living more in love with Jesus. Always feel free to hit “reply” and let me know if there is any way that I can support you in prayer.