Beauty Is In The Heart Of The Beholder

I think pretty would be an understatement !!!

It’s sort of funny that of the women that I have fallen in love with, it didn’t happen right away. Usually I started to really be attracted to them after a few dates, after I got to know them a little bit… their personalities, values and their sense of humor.

This past week at Access Church we heard the message “Under The Sun”… and how we should consider everlasting to everlasting in making decisions on how we can make the best use of our time, and how we all fit into the big picture of eternity.

Andy Stanley preached from the book of Ecclesiastes. He taught us how King Solomon showed life is meaningless without God.

Some of us think we’re really special. Others have been told that they’re not worthy… not pretty… and should just accept this as “a reality.” That’s crazy. You know the saying… “beauty is in the eyes of the beholder” … that’s a part of our culture, I guess… that beauty or attraction is skin deep. That’s a really shallow perspective, in my opinion.
To me personally, the source of attraction to someone of the opposite sex comes from within… and that attraction builds to true intimacy… remember, Up From The Deep…

“While the ripple is a shallow pattern on the surface of the water, it is poetic… a reflection of the deeper character of the fluid… and, in us, our core… where our true identity, character and the level of intimacy that we can attain are defined.”

The ripple that I’m referring to has nothing to do with the appearance of our flesh… it is the source of real attraction and deep, meaningful intimacy. It’s the real person that lives inside each of us… a collection of our experiences… values… dreams… and our heart. You see, real love and attraction, to me any way, is based on solid friendship, mutual support and respect, and deep emotional intimacy… add a few words of affirmation and voila!! You’ve painted a beautiful picture on God’s great canvas of life!!!

We learned on Sunday that Ecclesiastes contains a secret… it’s “Under The Sun”… if all there is to life is what we see under the sun there is no meaning. He’s saying that without God and eternity everything else is meaningless. That’s the reality that King Solomon shared with us.

“He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from the beginning to end.” Ecclesiastes 3:11

What Solomon was saying is that we have a spiritual thirst that makes us yearn for something more than our earthly pursuits.

What’s in your heart?

Here’s mine… beauty is in the heart of the beholder… eternity is in the heart of this man.

Why?

“I know that everything God does will endure forever, nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it.” Ecclesiastes 3: 14

Yep, if it’s God’s will, you know it will endure forever.

Now that’s a beautiful thing!!!

Where do you see God’s beauty right in front of you?