In my last update/blog, I shared about December being a dark month and God’s faithfulness to bring me through and teach me some lessons in the process; one of which concerns the beauty of the Savior.
In speaking on struggles on the mission field John Piper spoke about how missionaries persevered on the mission field because they saw how beautiful the Savior is. They persevered so that they might better know the beauty and wonder of the Savior. During December when things were pretty dark John’s words about the beauty of the Savior haunted me. Did I find the Savior beautiful enough to persevere; was the Savior truly beautiful in my eyes? In the end, the beauty of the Savior overwhelmed me, despite my lack of vision for His beauty. It would be a lie to say that something within me caught a glimpse of the Savior that led me to gaze upon his beauty, like spotting an animal in the wild and then using binoculars to study it. The truth is that the Savior so powerfully revealed Himself I could not have missed it; the only choice was to gaze into His eyes or turn and flee, like walking around a corner of a trail and finding oneself face to face with a majestic lion. This overwhelming beauty of the Savior has produced in me the desire to better see and more purposefully seek the beauty of our God.
Pray that we develop the patience to gaze intently at the Savior’s beauty, carefully studying the details of His radiant face, rather than just quickly glancing in the midst of our daily routines. Pray that we take time to savor and absorb the refreshing drink from the wonderful Counselor, letting His fullness reach the deepest parts of our souls, rather than just sipping enough to finish the present task. Pray that we feast at the banquet table of the Lord’s majesty; intentionally trying all the different delicacies, purposely developing our taste buds, rather than just slamming down some greasy fast food on the road of life.