Glory Gazing

If Jesus is beautiful, so is His Bride. If our Head is our “One Thing,” His Body is closely united. Love flows down from Him, so does His beauty.

David, in Psalm 27, longed to gaze at the beauty of the Lord in the shelter of His house. Beauty stirs the heart, and David’s heart was stirred though all around him was the ugliness of a fallen world. Only “One Thing” would satisfy and that “One Thing” is Jesus.

But what happens when we can barely see His beauty? What happens when our walk with Jesus is more a bunch of information than breathtaking beauty? Perhaps there are seasons when we know He is beautiful, but the eyes of our heart are dull, and His beauty veiled.

Cry out!

I felt some of this last week as I faced the task of preaching the stirring beauty of Jesus, but my heart felt unstirred. Like David, I just cried out (Psalm 27:7). I asked (Psalm 27:4). I pleaded with Him based on His own righteousness and glory. I pleaded in the name of Jesus. And He answered.

He gave me a glimpse on Friday evening as I was heading home at sunset. The clouds were a brilliant pink, and I immediately was reminded of the cross of Jesus. My heart was stirred, and I began to see beauty in more and more places. Beauty in nature was a taste of His beauty, and all its brilliance was at the cross.

Better than the sunset, though, was His Body. I came to church eager to gaze, and each person that walked in the door stirred my heart. Jesus is beautiful, and so is His Body—everyone with a different shade of beauty, but all the “One Body.” Personalities, backgrounds, and gifts varied, but each one reflecting our “One Head.”

Communion was the sweetest reflection of Christ that I can remember having in quite a while. When I heard the chorus of God’s people crunching on our gluten-free crackers, remembering His death, it was one of the most beautiful sounds I have ever heard. By the time I went up to preach on His beauty, He had filled my heart to overflowing. He is my “One Thing.”

I wonder if His Body is more beautiful than the ocean. Maybe it is foolish to compare; both are blood-bought gifts! But are our hearts stirred as much on an “ordinary” Sunday as on a once-in-a-lifetime vacation at the ocean?

Christ is beautiful. His Body is beautiful in her redemption. Gaze and go back for more!