Beauty carries a powerful tension. Seeing beauty isn’t enough.
C.S. Lewis writes that “We do not want merely to see beauty, though, God knows, even that is bounty enough. We want something else which can hardly be put into words — to be united with the beauty we see, to pass into it, to receive it into ourselves, to bathe in it, to become part of it.”
Beauty leads us to wanting more of it.
A recent email we received asks, “What place does beauty have in the observance of another human being? Is there an ability to recognize physical beauty without assigning value or taking something from a person?
Is it possible to view the human form, clothed or not, without lusting or coveting while still admiring the physical beauty God created?” So glad you asked.
Let’s begin.
Highlights
There is a difference between noticing beauty, observing beauty and lusting after beauty.
Lust wants to take beauty and make it my own - it’s a grasping, greedy thing without concern for the other.
Beauty not only fulfills desire but it also incites desire. This tension makes human beauty different from the beauty we see in other parts of creation.
We are created in God’s image so there is more opportunity to sin in how we respond to human physical beauty than how we respond to physical beauty in the world around us.
Can we see physical beauty and be drawn to it without sin? Yes we can.
When your heart is pure, you see God everywhere.
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👉Men's Overcoming Lust & Temptation Devotional
👉Women 21-Day Prayer Journal & Devotional - (Women overcoming unwanted sexual Behavior)
👉Compass 21-Day Prayer Journal & Devotional - (Wives who are or have been impacted by partner betrayal)