Good and Beautiful Community | Thursday | 10/1

Beauty Doesn't Have to Be Useful

Revelation 21:18–23

The wall was built of jasper, and the city was pure gold, like pure glass. ¹⁹ The city wall’s foundations were decorated with every kind of jewel. The first foundation was jasper, the second was sapphire, the third was chalcedony, and the fourth was emerald. ²⁰ The fifth was sardonyx, the sixth was carnelian, the seventh was chrysolite, and the eighth was beryl. The ninth was topaz, the tenth was chrysoprase, the eleventh was jacinth, and the twelfth was amethyst. ²¹ The twelve gates were twelve pearls; each one of the gates was made from a single pearl. And the city’s main street was pure gold, as transparent as glass.

²² I didn’t see a temple in the city, because its temple is the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb. ²³ The city doesn’t need the sun or the moon to shine on it, because God’s glory is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb.

We live in a world obsessed with usefulness.

What does it accomplish?

How much does it cost?

How long will it take?

What's the return on investment?

Those can be important questions. But they aren't the only questions that matter.

When John describes the New Jerusalem, he sees something almost extravagantly beautiful: gold, jasper, precious stones, light radiating from the glory of God.

John isn't describing an efficient city.

He's trying to describe beauty.

Beauty doesn't always accomplish something measurable.

A song doesn't need to increase productivity.

A painting doesn't need to solve a problem.

A sunset doesn't need to justify the time you spend watching it.

A long meal with people you love doesn't need to be efficient.

Sometimes beauty simply invites us to stop, pay attention, and delight in something good.

And perhaps that's precisely why we need it.

Beauty reminds us that life is more than productivity.

Reflect: 

When was the last time you enjoyed something beautiful without needing it to accomplish anything?

Pray: 

God of beauty, slow me down enough to notice your beauty around me. Free me from measuring everything by usefulness and teach me to receive beauty as a gift. Amen.