{"id":22376,"date":"2018-02-06T00:05:14","date_gmt":"2018-02-06T08:05:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/?p=22376"},"modified":"2018-02-02T14:18:55","modified_gmt":"2018-02-02T22:18:55","slug":"february-6-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/2018\/02\/06\/february-6-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"February 6, 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cOne thing I have desired of the LORD, that will I seek\u2026 to behold the beauty of the LORD\u2026\u201d<\/em> Psalm 27:4<\/p>\n

Duty, or Beauty?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In these devotionals, we have often exhorted one another to meditate on the Lord, to stand before Him and behold Him, to be in awe and reverence in His presence. But even these worthy activities can become something we consider a duty<\/strong> rather than a beauty<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

We might find ourselves saying, \u201cIf I want to be close to God, I need to sit at His feet and listen.\u201d Or, \u201cThe proof that I am devoted to Him will be that I spend time meditating on His Word.\u201d These things are quite true in one sense, for only one who loves Jesus will do these things. But it is a duty if we feel we \u201cmust\u201d do them; it becomes a beauty when we \u201cdesire\u201d to do them.<\/p>\n

Jesus is beautiful. Of course, we\u2019re told He had no beauty in the flesh (Isaiah 53:2), but beauty is so much more than flesh. Beautiful things take our breath away. They leave us standing with gaping mouth and full heart. Our brains can\u2019t wrap around staggering beauty; we can\u2019t comprehend the reason for it, nor the way it came about, nor why we were gifted with its presence.<\/p>\n

Jesus went to the cross for us\u2014voluntarily\u2014that we might live forever. That is beautiful.<\/p>\n

Jesus calls us each by name. God knows our name! That is beautiful.<\/p>\n

Jesus walks through the valley of the shadow of death with us. That is beautiful.<\/p>\n

Jesus says we are His friends. That is beautiful.<\/p>\n

Jesus created this earth, with all its variety and systems and inner workings, and He did it for us\u2014for us! That is beautiful.<\/p>\n

Jesus loved us while we still lived in sin. That is astonishingly beautiful.<\/p>\n

Jesus, the Light of the world, laid aside His glory and knew our darkness. Beautiful.<\/p>\n

I could go on and on, but even all the books in the world could not tell all the words of His beauty.<\/p>\n

It is no mere duty to look upon the beauty of the LORD. It is a remarkable privilege. When we find something beautiful, we can\u2019t stop looking at it. We desire nothing more. We stand before it with heart pounding, eyes fixated, being filled by it, deepened, stretched. It\u2019s a mystery how this happens, but God has made it so.<\/p>\n

And Jesus is that beauty for us. In looking at Him, we are satisfied.<\/p>\n

\u201cJesus, we long to see Your face, and some day we will. On this earth, though, we gaze upon the beauty You have shown by Your life lived among us. Give us eyes to see new beauty in You each day. Amen.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

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