VICAR

Dear Readers of Country Squire Magazine, I trust that my weekly message finds You well and healthy.

This week I would like You to look outside and enjoy the intricacy and beauty of the world. If You are going to church, please spend time to wander around outside and take in the detail.

One thing I ask from the LORD, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple. Psalm 27:4 (NIV)

Sometimes We take for granted the beauty of our world or We watch the news all day long and see only horror, as generations past would not have technologically been able to do. We should sometimes look upwards not sideways. Distractions are vital – work, family, health, money – but they are not the be all and end all of our world.

God bless You all. Have a delightful Sunday and a safe and prosperous week ahead.

Dear Heavenly Father, it’s only through the gospel of your grace that I’ve come to know you to be a beautiful God. Before then, your loveliness was veiled to me, mostly by the darkness of my unbelief. But now, your splendour outshines the sun; your excellences stagger my imagination; and your kindness melts my heart.

I see your beauty in the things you have made. Open my eyes wider, Father. Grant me jaw-dropping wonder as I come even more alive to your fingerprints everywhere. Your great artistry, and the joy you experienced creating a world, loudly declare your glory.

I see your beauty in people—all kinds of people. Really, in every person, if I take time to look. Oh, Father, continue to heal my vision of people. Though we’re all broken, yet as your image bearers, each of us reveals glimmers and glimpses of your loveliness. Forgive me when I see anybody’s brokenness, to the exclusion of his or her beauty.

I see your beauty in Jesus. Indeed, Father, I’ve come to behold your beauty most expressly and fully in Jesus. No one has ever seen you completely—in the fullness of your glory and being; but Jesus, your Son, at your side, has made you known to us (John 1:18). Hallelujah, many times over, for this gift—this incomparable honour and privilege. In Jesus, I see the magnificence of your mercies, the grandeur of your grace, and the wonders of your love. Show me more, Father; show me more and more and more.

I long for the Day when we will see the unfettered undiminished beauty of your face (Rev. 22:4); for that will be our first Day in the new heaven and new earth. Hasten that Day, LORD. Until then, I bless you for your commitment to make all things beautiful in their time—including us, your children. So very Amen I pray, in Jesus’ tender and triumphant name.