We are all made with a longing for beauty and loveliness.  Whether it’s what we traditionally call art, or what we create in our homes, all loveliness is meant to point us toward God.  We can seek and create beauty in:

• Food and drink

• Art we observe

• Art we create - coloring pages to candle making

• Home decor

• Music

• Creation

• Anything that utilizes our senses

 

God designed US with senses that reflect His nature, and He designed creation to FILL those senses.  The enjoyment of beauty can have a powerful place in our relationship with God!

  Our lives of obedience are lovely to God.

Philippians 4:4-9 is a beautiful picture of how rejoicing in God shapes how we think and live!  As we know Him and rejoice in Him, God’s peace “guards our hearts and minds,” and it transforms our life and testimony.

It’s important to note: Our worship is tied to obedience and repentance.  We may need to grieve where we have wronged God, in order to fully worship Him.  

We can use beauty as a form of worship.

Whether we sing, create art, create loveliness in our homes, or even prepare a meal that is  delicious, we can use beauty in our everyday lives to glorify God!

 

*FIRST we find Him, though.  Beauty isn't a mystical, ethereal things we pursue.  We find true beauty as we find truth.  We find truth in Christ, as we “feast” on scripture.  

 

Then we might spend time with God as we enjoy lovely music (make sure it is truth-rooted, not just beautiful!) ,Bible journaling/art, designing our homes, and even movement! But maybe the sweetest way we can beautifully worship God is by practicing “Defiant Joy” - as we keep coming back to Him and seeing Him in the midst of hard places in everyday life.

 

A great principle we can remember comes from 1 Corinthians 10:31 - “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” 

All loveliness originates and culminates in Christ - and that is ultimately where we will experience truth, joy, and beauty. 

 

We can buy beautiful Bibles (and I do love mine), and make scripture art, and create the coziest corner and morning routine for reading our Bibles.  But ultimately, we do any of these things to find Jesus.  Ultimately, we don’t NEED any of these things - we only need Christ.

Perhaps Robert Murray M’Cheyne said it best: “The truest, purest joy flows from a discovery of Jesus Christ. He is the hidden treasure that gives such joy to the finder (Matt. 13:44).” - Robert Murray M’Cheyne, Letters to a Soul Seeking Christ 

Matthew 13:44-45 - the kingdom of heaven - a treasure worth selling all we have, and a pearl worth getting rid of everything we own.  This will shape how we approach what we do have, next episode.

Mary and Martha created a lovely environment for Jesus - Mary literally “welcomed Him into her house.”  This was a good thing!  Mary “listened to His teaching,” and Martha “was distracted.”  Ultimately, we offer God our best worship when we give Him our full focus. Whether we are enjoying the beauty God created in nature, or creating loveliness ourselves, ultimately all beauty should draw us, and those around us, to worship the God who made all things that are lovely.

 

In the next episode, we’ll dig into how we create beauty in welcome, in a way that has eternal purpose.

 

Find full shownotes here.

RESOURCES

• Episode 13 - Salted Honey - the Words We Eat and the Words We Speak

• Some of my Bible study resources that add loveliness to routine :)

• Ways to Engage With the Bible Artistically

• Art and Music: A Student’s Guide by Munson, Drake and Dockery

• Five Ways to Use Art to Deepen Your Faith, by Laura and Jason VanDyke of God’s Fingerprints

• Embodied Prayer, Celeste Snowber Schroeder