Gazing Upon the Beauty of the Lord

One thing I ask of the Lord, 

and this I seek;

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 seek him in His temple (Ps. 27).

Last evening, at a church gathering, someone asked if I had seen the sunset.  I had not, but she began extolling the inexpressible beauty of the day: "People were pulling over to the side of the road just to gaze at the sunset," she said.

The best things in life have no purpose except pure enjoyment -- just gazing at them in joy.  Bishop Robert Barron maintains that the very best parts of the newspaper are the sports pages and the comics, for they have no end outside of themselves -- just enjoyment.  (Now, however, with sports betting made legal, the commercialists have found a way to make the sports pages utilitarian, destroying the pure joy of reading.)

I can think of no better pastime than gazing upon Truth, Beauty, and Goodness.  C.S. Lewis, in his Reflections Upon the Psalms, ponders how on earth a man can "love" the "law," calling it "sweeter than honey" (Psalm 119), for example.  He understands how someone can respect the law, or appreciate it, but not how we can "love" it.  

For the Jews, however, the word "law" did/ and does not mean what we think of as "law."  Rather, to them, "the Law" was the instruction, inspiration, Truth, Order, Beauty of Creation, righteousness, the Breath and Wisdom of God revealed to mankind.  When we finally "see" it, or receive it, it takes our breath away, even more than the beauty of a sunset or the majesty of the mountains.  It is like seeing the very Face of God Himself.  

People think that the purpose of Christianity, or of any religion for that matter, is to "make us good and decent people."  And from that premise, they will eventually deduce that they can be good people without going to church.  Perhaps they can; I will not deny them that.  But "making us good" is a rather utilitarian end of religion, and not its primary purpose after all.  It is a secondary effect, much as a man might reform his life to be worthy of the woman he falls in love with.

The reason Jesus Christ came was not to reform us --- although He does do that, of course.  No, He came to re-form us into a different sort of creature altogether.  We are no longer children of Adam, but now children of God.  We are not only allowed, but now even invited, to gaze upon the beauty of His face and to inquire of Him whatever we want.  We are enjoined to "taste and see the goodness of the Lord," to rest in His Presence, to enter into fellowship with Him, to eat at His table.

Jesus wants for us the SAME relationship He has with the Father.  And not just "when we get to heaven," but NOW, on earth.  That is why we must be "born again," as "a new creation."  The old (man) is gone; the new has arrived in the Resurrection.  Now we too can pass through walls and doors; we can gaze upon His beauty now, and find TRUTH in His temple.  We can drink freely of the water of life.  

Going on vacation -- as long as we leave behind the cell phones and the internet -- and gazing at the stars for no other reason except to drink in as much as we can their exquisite beauty is much more akin to our Christianity than "becoming good people."  After seeing the sunset, after sleeping under the stars, or walking the forest, or canoeing the cold mountain stream; after hearing the birds sing for no "reason," we will undoubtedly be better people, but only because our lives have been touched by the most exquisite beauty we can imagine.  We need more gazing in our lives.