The following quotes are taken from Steve DeWitt's outstanding book, Eyes Wide Open: Enjoying God in Everything (Credo House, 2012).
“Created beauty eclipses God’s beauty in the desire factory of man’s heart. It is a case of mistaken identity. Every created beauty was created by God to lead our affections to Him. That’s why He made the pleasures of earthly beauty so fleeting — so that on the other side of the pleasure we might experience either wonder and worship and ultimate satisfaction in God or the pursuit of the pleasure that beauty provides for its own sake. If we choose the latter, we will only be disappointed again.” (7)
“What if we were to realize that every sunset viewed, every sexual intimacy enjoyed, every favorite food savored, every song sung or listened to, every home decorated, and every rich moment enjoyed in this life isn’t ultimately about itself but is an expression and reflection of God’s essential character? Wouldn’t such beautiful and desirable reflections mean that their Source must be even more beautiful — and, ultimately, most desirable?” (8)
“The greatest wonder is not the music itself but the Musician, not the creation but the Creator. He is beautiful.” (9)
“The peril for us is when God’s beauty seems vague, because then so does His desirability. Might this explain the embarrassing ebb and flow of my passion for God? I am too easily convinced that God is not capable of satisfying my longings and too quickly seduced into thinking that some earthly beauty can. In my weakness I can clearly see the desirability of the earthly beauty, yet the desirability of God’s beauty is debatable. We need a clear understanding of the supreme beauty and desirability of God so that we can delight in all created beauty for what it is — reflection and metaphor.” (29)
“Try to conceive of this. God is absolute perfection: perfect power, perfect love, perfect justice, and perfect faithfulness. He is perfect everything. All He is matches every good desire we possess. God’s beauty is the bouquet of His perfections in His person, unveiled in His purposes, and displayed in His glory. Wow.” (31)
“We enjoy holidays (the coming together of family), weddings and anniversaries (celebrations of the union of marriage), and Fourth of July parades (the unity of community and nation). Coming together feels great! Relational unity is humanity at its supreme and highest ideal. Have you ever wondered why the greatest memories of our lives are not things we bought or sites we saw or foods we ate? Think about your greatest memories. They probably have something to do with times of closeness with a parent, a child, a spouse, or a friend. Relational unity is beautiful because all the experiential harmonies of this world whisper of the wondrous beauty of the Godhead’s relational threeness and oneness.” (35)
“The cross gives finite human beings a small taste of what it is like to be a member of the Trinity. In the moment of His sacrificial death, Jesus gave to us what He had given to the Father for all eternity: everything — the total surrender of self. The cross is love’s highest human expression and beauty’s ultimate source. Before a sunset or a mountain range or a painting or a song can be relished as beautiful, our souls have to awaken to true beauty. The cross is real beauty. Everything else is reflection. Can you ‘see’ it?” (40)
“Glory is the light of divine delight. Specifically, it is the brilliant, emanating overflow expression of God’s infinite delight in being God. Glory light expresses God’s glorious worth. God chooses to express His invisible, infinite worth in a visible, created way. A created thing can reflect or express a spiritual reality. Glory to us looks like light. It is bright. It is radiant.” (48)
“Christianity’s answer to the question of why creation is so beautiful is that it flows from the character of a beautiful creator. Nature is God’s self-portrait. It is not God, since God transcends what He has created, but it reveals in physical form what He is like spiritually. God creates beauty so we can know what He is like. Since He is and always has been glorious and beautiful, creation reflects this with seeable, tastable, touchable, hearable, and smellable reflections of His glory and beauty. This is what Isaiah heard the angels exulting. The whole earth is filled with His glory, and it is a ‘song about God.’” (62)
“Creation speaks to us — every day, all the time, constantly shouting truths about spiritual reality. Did you hear it this morning as you got up? Did you feel any truth about God this morning as you took a hot shower? Did you taste any truth as you delighted in your morning coffee? Did you hear any divine reality as you heard a bird singing? Did you see any truth as you saw the blue of the sky? What have you actually felt, tasted, touched, seen, and heard today? The whole earth is filled with His glory. Every day creation shouts to us, God is glorious! God is creator! God is provider! God is love! God is there! . . . Everywhere I look, everything I feel, hear, smell, and taste transmits the beauty of God through the beauty of creation. He is the beauty behind all beauty.” (63–64)
“As Romans 11:36 states, all things are from God and to God. Beauty boomerangs from God into created beauty, then through the senses and soul of the image-bearer, and finally back to God with praise and glory.” (69)
“The beauties of this world whisper to our souls that there is someone ultimate. But the ultimate is never found in the wonderland of creation. We keep looking and longing for the beauty behind the beauty, the One who will satisfy the cravings of our soul. This explains why the drug addict keeps shooting up and the porn addict keeps looking and the materialist keeps buying and the thrill-seeker keeps jumping. On the other side of one thrill is the constant need for another.” (71)
“It all comes back to Genesis 1:26: ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.’ We were made for God’s beauty, and all beauty is God’s beauty. When we see or hear or taste or smell one of the created reflections of God’s beauty, we love it; and it creates wonder within us. Then we become junkies. A single rush of wonder is fantastic, but we quickly want more of it. We take pictures to possess the moment and share the wonder with friends. The sight of beauty makes us want to touch or taste. This is why children lick strange things and ‘Do Not Touch’ signs clutter botanical gardens and museums.” (79)
“There is embedded in our spiritual DNA an ancient memory of when everything was as it ought to be, when everything was in harmony. We retain this as a kind of suppressed memory. Beauty is beautiful to us when it includes some kind of harmony and balance. This can be relational harmony, color harmony, natural harmony, musical harmony, physical harmony, national harmony, and many more. Beauty’s harmonies are an echo in our hearts of the ancient harmony, and we miss it. We want it again. That is why sensory beauty is not enough; we want to possess the beauty itself so the experience can continue.” (89–90)
“Beauty was created by God for a purpose: to give us the experience of wonder. And wonder, in turn, is intended to lead us to the ultimate human expression and privilege: worship. Beauty is both a gift and a map. It is a gift to be enjoyed and a map to be followed back to the source of the beauty with praise and thanksgiving.” (91)
“Created beauty eclipses God’s beauty in the desire factory of man’s heart. It is a case of mistaken identity. Every created beauty was created by God to lead our affections to Him. That’s why He made the pleasures of earthly beauty so fleeting — so that on the other side of the pleasure we might experience either wonder and worship and ultimate satisfaction in God or the pursuit of the pleasure that beauty provides for its own sake. If we choose the latter, we will only be disappointed again.” (7)
“What if we were to realize that every sunset viewed, every sexual intimacy enjoyed, every favorite food savored, every song sung or listened to, every home decorated, and every rich moment enjoyed in this life isn’t ultimately about itself but is an expression and reflection of God’s essential character? Wouldn’t such beautiful and desirable reflections mean that their Source must be even more beautiful — and, ultimately, most desirable?” (8)
“The greatest wonder is not the music itself but the Musician, not the creation but the Creator. He is beautiful.” (9)
“The peril for us is when God’s beauty seems vague, because then so does His desirability. Might this explain the embarrassing ebb and flow of my passion for God? I am too easily convinced that God is not capable of satisfying my longings and too quickly seduced into thinking that some earthly beauty can. In my weakness I can clearly see the desirability of the earthly beauty, yet the desirability of God’s beauty is debatable. We need a clear understanding of the supreme beauty and desirability of God so that we can delight in all created beauty for what it is — reflection and metaphor.” (29)
“Try to conceive of this. God is absolute perfection: perfect power, perfect love, perfect justice, and perfect faithfulness. He is perfect everything. All He is matches every good desire we possess. God’s beauty is the bouquet of His perfections in His person, unveiled in His purposes, and displayed in His glory. Wow.” (31)
“We enjoy holidays (the coming together of family), weddings and anniversaries (celebrations of the union of marriage), and Fourth of July parades (the unity of community and nation). Coming together feels great! Relational unity is humanity at its supreme and highest ideal. Have you ever wondered why the greatest memories of our lives are not things we bought or sites we saw or foods we ate? Think about your greatest memories. They probably have something to do with times of closeness with a parent, a child, a spouse, or a friend. Relational unity is beautiful because all the experiential harmonies of this world whisper of the wondrous beauty of the Godhead’s relational threeness and oneness.” (35)
“The cross gives finite human beings a small taste of what it is like to be a member of the Trinity. In the moment of His sacrificial death, Jesus gave to us what He had given to the Father for all eternity: everything — the total surrender of self. The cross is love’s highest human expression and beauty’s ultimate source. Before a sunset or a mountain range or a painting or a song can be relished as beautiful, our souls have to awaken to true beauty. The cross is real beauty. Everything else is reflection. Can you ‘see’ it?” (40)
“Glory is the light of divine delight. Specifically, it is the brilliant, emanating overflow expression of God’s infinite delight in being God. Glory light expresses God’s glorious worth. God chooses to express His invisible, infinite worth in a visible, created way. A created thing can reflect or express a spiritual reality. Glory to us looks like light. It is bright. It is radiant.” (48)
“Christianity’s answer to the question of why creation is so beautiful is that it flows from the character of a beautiful creator. Nature is God’s self-portrait. It is not God, since God transcends what He has created, but it reveals in physical form what He is like spiritually. God creates beauty so we can know what He is like. Since He is and always has been glorious and beautiful, creation reflects this with seeable, tastable, touchable, hearable, and smellable reflections of His glory and beauty. This is what Isaiah heard the angels exulting. The whole earth is filled with His glory, and it is a ‘song about God.’” (62)
“Creation speaks to us — every day, all the time, constantly shouting truths about spiritual reality. Did you hear it this morning as you got up? Did you feel any truth about God this morning as you took a hot shower? Did you taste any truth as you delighted in your morning coffee? Did you hear any divine reality as you heard a bird singing? Did you see any truth as you saw the blue of the sky? What have you actually felt, tasted, touched, seen, and heard today? The whole earth is filled with His glory. Every day creation shouts to us, God is glorious! God is creator! God is provider! God is love! God is there! . . . Everywhere I look, everything I feel, hear, smell, and taste transmits the beauty of God through the beauty of creation. He is the beauty behind all beauty.” (63–64)
“As Romans 11:36 states, all things are from God and to God. Beauty boomerangs from God into created beauty, then through the senses and soul of the image-bearer, and finally back to God with praise and glory.” (69)
“The beauties of this world whisper to our souls that there is someone ultimate. But the ultimate is never found in the wonderland of creation. We keep looking and longing for the beauty behind the beauty, the One who will satisfy the cravings of our soul. This explains why the drug addict keeps shooting up and the porn addict keeps looking and the materialist keeps buying and the thrill-seeker keeps jumping. On the other side of one thrill is the constant need for another.” (71)
“It all comes back to Genesis 1:26: ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.’ We were made for God’s beauty, and all beauty is God’s beauty. When we see or hear or taste or smell one of the created reflections of God’s beauty, we love it; and it creates wonder within us. Then we become junkies. A single rush of wonder is fantastic, but we quickly want more of it. We take pictures to possess the moment and share the wonder with friends. The sight of beauty makes us want to touch or taste. This is why children lick strange things and ‘Do Not Touch’ signs clutter botanical gardens and museums.” (79)
“There is embedded in our spiritual DNA an ancient memory of when everything was as it ought to be, when everything was in harmony. We retain this as a kind of suppressed memory. Beauty is beautiful to us when it includes some kind of harmony and balance. This can be relational harmony, color harmony, natural harmony, musical harmony, physical harmony, national harmony, and many more. Beauty’s harmonies are an echo in our hearts of the ancient harmony, and we miss it. We want it again. That is why sensory beauty is not enough; we want to possess the beauty itself so the experience can continue.” (89–90)
“Beauty was created by God for a purpose: to give us the experience of wonder. And wonder, in turn, is intended to lead us to the ultimate human expression and privilege: worship. Beauty is both a gift and a map. It is a gift to be enjoyed and a map to be followed back to the source of the beauty with praise and thanksgiving.” (91)
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