Have you ever met someone you simply couldn’t get enough of?
You finish a conversation, and before long you want another. Hours feel like minutes. You replay their words in your mind. Being with them never feels like an obligation; it feels like the one place you’d rather be.
No one has to remind you to spend time with someone you delight in. Love naturally creates longing.
If God is infinitely more beautiful than anyone we have ever loved, why do we often struggle to spend even a few quiet moments with Him?
Perhaps the problem is not that Christ lacks beauty. Perhaps we have simply not seen Him.
David had.
Yesterday we asked whether God is still your one thing. Hear again what David actually asked for:
“One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD…”
Psalm 27:4, KJV
What had David seen that made a lifetime of simply gazing upon God seem better than every other ambition?
He had begun to behold the breathtaking beauty of God’s very heart. He saw a holiness that did not repel sinners but made a way to cleanse them. A greatness that stooped to serve. A majesty clothed in meekness. A justice that would not ignore sin, yet a love so deep that God Himself would bear its punishment.
This beauty reaches its fullest expression in Jesus Christ. Watch Him.
See Him stretch out His hand to touch the leper everyone else stepped away from.
See Him stop for the blind beggar others tried to silence.
See Him allow little children to climb into His arms while His disciples tried to send them away.
See Him kneel with a towel around His waist, washing the filthy feet that would soon run from Him.
See Him look into the eyes of Peter, not with condemnation after his denial, but with love that would restore a broken disciple.
See Him weep at Lazarus’ tomb, though He knew resurrection was only moments away.
Then follow Him to Calvary.
Look at the hands that flung stars into space now pierced by nails. Listen to the voice that spoke galaxies into existence praying, “Father, forgive them” (Luke 23:34). Behold the King of Glory wearing a crown of thorns. The Judge standing in the place of the guilty. The Sinless One bearing the sins of the sinful.
Where else will you find such beauty?
Where else will you find infinite holiness joined with infinite mercy?
Where else will you find absolute justice embracing absolute love?
Where else will you find limitless power clothed in such astonishing humility?
The Christian life is not sustained by duty alone. It is sustained by delight. The more clearly we see Christ, the more gladly we forfeit anything to follow Him.
Perhaps this is why David asked for only one thing.
The problem is not that Christ is difficult to love. The problem is that our eyes have become captivated by lesser beauties. One true sight of Jesus can change your desires.
For when the heart finally sees Christ as He truly is, it discovers that it has spent its whole life searching for a beauty that was found in Him all along. Jesus, when seen truly and clearly, is irresistible.
Reflection Questions
- What lesser beauty has been holding the attention my heart owes to Christ?
Which of those scenes shows me something about Jesus I have never stopped long enough to look at?
Prayer
Lord Jesus, I have looked at many things today and hardly at You. Forgive me for a heart that is quick to want and slow to behold. Open my eyes to see You as You are, holy and merciful, mighty and humble, the Judge who stood where the guilty should have stood. Let one true sight of You do what all my resolutions have failed to do, and make my desires follow my eyes. Amen.
Further Reading
Psalm 27
Philippians 2:5-11
2 Corinthians 3:18
Key Takeaway
Jesus, when seen truly and clearly, is irresistible.
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