The Pursuit of Goodness, Beauty, and Truth

Are you hungry for righteousness? Are you yearning for something that is not drudged up from the seemingly endless, often perverted mass media we are fed? This sentiment is not to stand in the position to condemn in a judgmental sense, rather, to offer the contemplative thought, are you hungry for something good, beautiful, and true?
The Traits of Goodness and Beauty
Deep within each of us we hunger for something real, beautiful, pure, lovely, and good. We ultimately want something that is what God would call, tov. When God as Creator beckoned the stars to hang in the sky and the trees to grow in the land, and placed man to walk in the Garden, He concluded of each that it was tov, Hebrew for, good. Yet, a lie seeks to suggest that such beauty is not the ultimate beauty, so we seek to fill out hearts, minds, and spirits with alternatives. These counterfeits masquerade themselves as superior, but in time they prove fleeting and finite. They are alternatives that leave us starving for something real, something that truly is authentically, tov.
In Beauty for Truth’s Sake, author Stratford Caldecott suggests that majesty, order, and loveliness are what we behold in looking at God’s creation of the universe as a whole. From the Heavens to the land, we see these three traits throughout the handiwork of what He deemed, tov. It is from such a perspective that we can then conclude that beauty is birthed of goodness. Caldecott highlights the necessity for the essence of beauty as, “Beauty is the radiance of the true and the good, and it is what attracts us to both.” This captures the deeper nature of beauty, it is not only what the senses would deem fair, rather, it conveys that what is lovely, what is beautiful about something, or someone is the radiance of its truth and goodness. This definitive key unlocks for us much in the way of clarity to reveal a new gauge or new measurement for what is truly beautiful; it is not the vanity of the subject in question, it is the truth and goodness of it that makes it genuinely beautiful. It is not a mere curiosity to seek after what is beautiful, but it is something woven into the fibers of our being that are called to seek that which is good, beautiful, and true. As Philippians 4:8-9 shares,
“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is [g]lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, think about these things. As for the things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.” Philippians 4:8-9
We are called to think about such things, to position our thought life to indwell in such glorious gardens. It is in and through securing our minds in beauty and goodness that we find our spirits hunger for the foundation of it all through truth.
Foundation of Truth
The Spirit of God is the Spirit of Truth as we are told in John 16:33.
“But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.” John 16:33
Without truth, we are lost to the tossing of the waves of doubt, we are subject to the smoke and mirrors of deception, and we are confined to the chains the Enemy desires to bind us with. Truth is many things, one of which is freedom. As John 8:31-32 states,
“So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly My disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:31-32
Truth is also love. As Caldecott concludes, “But it is as easy and as difficult as it has always been to raise our heads to the sky. The angels are closer than we think. And the way is open. The intellect seeks truth, and it seeks beauty for truth’s sake, but the substance of truth is love.” The pursuit of truth is not just for freedom, it is to exhibit and exist in love. As 1 Corinthians 13:6-7 reminds us,
“it does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; it keeps every confidence, it believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” 1 Corinthians 13:6-7
John Piper offers commentary on this verse in saying, “Love is glad when truth is spoken. Therefore love aims at truth. It supports truth.” (Desiring God, 1). As we pursue what is good, tov, what is beautiful, and what is true, we ultimately are pursuing, seeking, and hungering for the substance of love.
A Worthy Pursuit
Ultimately, the pursuit of goodness, beauty, and truth is not just for the pursuit of something bigger than ourselves, but the pursuit to understand what God truly desires for us to desire. This became evident to me over the course of the last five or so years through a contemplative journey of refinement and whole hearted pursuit for what God would have for me to seek after. Not to divulge overly personal details, but I believe others gain encouragement from shared experience. It was somewhere around 2020 where I desperately began to crave pure things. It wasn’t merely the circumstances of COVID or elections that fed into this yearning, rather, I saw in the macro and micro parts of the world with corruption, dismal perspectives on life, and the depravity in society. I realized that depression, anxiety, and hopelessness many experienced during this time was fed by these heart and mind postures. Moreover, when these beliefs were burned they would turn to ash, and I wanted to stop entertaining my mind with such Fools Gold of what the world said to run after. 1 Corinthians 3:10-16 reminds us that,
“According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each person must be careful how he builds on it. For no one can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw, each one’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each one’s work. If anyone’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet only so as through fire.Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?.” 1 Corinthians 3:10-16
This verse is one to take to heart, for it shifts us as to say what must change in order to pass this testing by fire. This is where I found myself in a quest to find meaning, depth, and radical truth intwined in what I consumed, what I crafted, and what I allowed in my small corner of the world. I wanted something that would survive those refinement fires, something worth fighting for, something worthy of pursuit.
What is your pursuit? What is your heart yearning to really consume? Is it that of goodness, beauty, and truth? Does it seek Light, or does it cower to the shadows? What is God inviting you to find behind the curtains you fear to draw back? What if what you find is a life where you are fed, a life where you are full alive, a life where you are really, sincerely free? So, friend, I invite you in a quest for what is beautiful because it is good and because it is rooted in truth.
Sources:
https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/truth-and-love#:~:text="Love does not rejoice in,It supports truth.
Beauty for Truth’s Sake, Caldecott
NASB
C. Logan
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