Friends,  We have a lot to think about these days. God helps us with what is important.  See the column below.  Blessings, Bob

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Spirituality Column #879

September 19, 2023

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Protect the Lovely Things   

By Bob Walters

“…whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things.” Paul to the Philippians, 4:4

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace patience kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” Paul to the Galatians, 5:22-23

These are two of my favorite scripture verses because they direct human beings to nurture our most loving, restorative, redemptive, and peace-building impulses.

Humans must understand these are not rules to be checked off in order to please a Creator God who loves us; these constitute the roadmap to human flourishing.  These are the tides of Godly living that lift all ships and nurture all fields.  We do these things for us: not because God told us to, but because this is how human things work best.

When we live by these canons of behavior we abide in the heavenly realms of the Spirit whose light shines a full, recognizable measure, recognition of and yearning for truth, beauty, and joy.  That is what God wants for us, what we hope for us, and what we should bestow on others.  And that’s where the Spirit leads, given the chance.

Notice that in Galatians 5, the preceding verses 17-21 outline what humanity becomes – what it does to itself – when it lives in conflict with the Spirit. Things get ugly.  

That said, I am wondering if, lately – and I’m speaking specifically to Americans – have you watched the news, considered the culture, evaluated education, assessed the state of artistic expression and critique, attempted to make sense of politics, or otherwise noticed American society tumbling into a cultural abyss from which we may not soon escape?  Have you noticed how an evil aesthetic of “ugly” is overtaking – has overtaken – the godly and spiritual aesthetics of “lovely” and “beautiful? 

It is a new-ish theme I’ve noticed frequently in my general reading of news, commentary, theological observation, and the more learned ruminations of cultural grist-grinding.  It is a timely discussion I am happy to see, because I am very tired of the ugly.  Ugly is what our pervasive and leftist/progressive mass media, politics, academics, entertainment and often even art foist onto our culture as “transgressive truth.”  It is an ugly “truth” of destruction, not God’s loving truth of human flourishing.

Humanity is drawn to the beautiful because beauty draws us toward God.  True beauty, along with the divine aesthetics of virtue and happiness – as we may discern them – are byproducts of other endeavors.  We can’t create beauty on its own … but when we seek to express the Godly in love, truth, and excellence, that is where beauty will be found.  Beauty resides in our growth in, and striving for, relationship with God.  

I had not previously paired our very obvious cultural rot with this evil aesthetic of anti-beauty, which undermines our faith and trust in God’s love, hastening man’s death.

Much of society and culture, sadly, not only ignores God but works to destroy beauty and goodness.  Language is coarse, behavior is untethered, decency is mocked, sanity is canceled, science is driven by narrative, truth fades, and politics serves itself.

Remember when buildings in America were beautiful? Even architecture now expresses unadorned and angular contempt for humanity, not love for Creation.

The times are ugly, but God has no law against beauty or loveliness. Think about such things, and protect such things.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) notes: evil destroys, Godly Spirit builds. Always.