For the Beauty of the Earth
Beauty is good.
Last weekend, I drove to Harper’s Ferry and reveled in the pockets of autumn color dotting the mountainside. My friend and I climbed the Maryland Heights trail to look down upon the town. As we rested, a hawk launched itself into the air and glided above the river. There was only one way to describe the moment: beautiful.
Yet, what is beauty? In college, I asked my friends that question. I was looking for abstract definitions of beauty that could apply to any sphere of life, from art to nature to virtue. Yet the responses I received were words like authenticity, character, or meekness. Even though my friends knew I wanted a general definition of beauty, they defined beauty as inner character, not perceptible characteristics. It was as if they thought my question was a trap to catch them in an “unspiritual” answer.
Like my friends, many Christians tend to shy away from beauty and point to verses like 1 Samuel 16:7 and 1 Peter 3:3-4 as their defense. In the first passage, Samuel discovered that God’s criteria go beyond the superficial. In the second, Peter encouraged believers to pursue a pure heart instead of the latest trend. Jesus had something to say about beauty too. He described the Pharisees as whitewashed tombs: beautiful to view, but rotten inside. Clearly, no one can compensate a wicked heart with the looks of a model. Yet all too often I assume the invisible reflects the visible, only to be disappointed when the outer layer is stripped away and nothing beautiful remains.
However, my small survey revealed a fallacy, an assumption that outward beauty is bad and an unworthy goal. But when Christians abandon beauty to the world, why are they surprised by the results? Satan comes to steal, kill, and destroy the good and perfect gifts of the Father. Satan loves to debase beauty, perverting loveliness into lust. The father of lies must delight when Christians surrender beauty to his manipulations, too afraid to engage in beauty lest they be seen as shallow and unspiritual.
But true beauty—the beauty of sacrificial love, the beauty of our Heavenly Father, the beauty of a life transformed—matters too much to be sacrificed on the altar of self-righteousness. When looked at through a biblical perspective, beauty carries weight. Literary scholar Leland Ryken describes beauty as “an attribute or perfection of God,” the Source of beauty (Ryken n.d., 3). The Creator filled the cosmos with beauty.
Take a break for a minute and imagine the Garden of Eden. What did you picture? A pastel sunrise dripping with colored hues? A lake so clear you could see the fish frolicking beneath? The sweet sigh of the wind as it swayed the lush vines? Whatever you pictured, I know you saw something beautiful. How? Because God called His creation good. His good design is beautiful because He is beautiful.
Beauty is worth pursuing. In Psalm 27:4, David listed his top desire: to dwell in the Lord’s temple and behold the Lord’s beauty all his life. This simple passage reveals a deep idea, that God created humans to delight in beauty. Indeed, Ezra 7:27 reveals that God encouraged rulers to make the temple beautiful. Clearly, God is the Maker of beauty. His handiwork deserves the appreciation that resounds back to the Creator.
If you need further proof, try to picture a world without beauty, a world devoid of color and music and art. A sterile world devoid of all that is noble and good. God did not need to make the world beautiful.
But He did.
Take a moment to appreciate beauty. Soak it in. Delight in its pure, unvarnished presence. Revel in the sheer audacity of beauty thriving in a world that attempts to snuff out loveliness. From the posies’ petals to the sunset’s scenery, the world is awash in beauty. There need be no roaring waterfalls or finches in flight, but God designed them all. Beauty glorifies God, and if the beautiful God made us in His image, we also are beautiful and creators of beauty.
As creators glorifying the Creator, Christians must value true beauty more than nonbelievers. Christians must strive for beauty in an elegant essay, in a violin’s vibrato, and in a courageous choice. When the world is lost, we can offer hope with the beauty of salvation.
Beauty must permeate every aspect of our lives. So go, thank God for the beautiful. Then make something yourself—something beautiful.
References
Ryken, Leland. n.d. “Literature and the Quest for Beauty.” Biblical Studies.org.uk. Accessed February 2, 2023. https://biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/christian-graduate/33-4_002.pdf.