Fairest Lord Jesus
(Anonymous, Piano Arrangement by Hensie Reyes)
A Meditation on the Beauty of God (Part II)
LYRICS (Click to minimize)
Fairest Lord Jesus, Ruler of all nature
O Thou of God and man the Son
Thee will I cherish, Thee will I honor
Thou my soul’s glory, joy, and crown
Fair are the meadows, fairer still the woodlands
Robed in the blooming garb of spring
Jesus is fairer, Jesus is purer
Who makes the woeful heart to sing
Beautiful Savior! Lord of all the nations!
Son of God and Son of Man!
Glory and honor, praise, adoration
Now and forevermore be Thine!
Source: Hymnary.org
Songwriters: August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben | Joseph August Seiss
© Public Domain
CCLI Song #27800 | CCLI License #632898
Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
Psalm 73:25 (ESV)
As we listen to one of the earliest-dated Christian hymns we have today, we continue our meditation on the beauty of God and what that means to us.
To confess that God is beautiful—in fact, the perfection of beauty itself—means that everything beautiful in the world, every aspect of beauty itself, is a reflection of God! We can take this idea even further: to be beautiful, in its very essence, is to be like God. There is nothing beautiful that is not like God, and there is nothing like God that is not beautiful.
We live in a world enamored with beauty. Our magazines and billboards all show us what the world believes beauty is. The internet showcases all forms of beauty products and fashion accessories, that we may look like those the world idealizes as beautiful. But do the world’s ideals of beauty truly conform to the Lord’s? Tragically, most of it does not! Our idea of beauty is so depraved that we see sex icons and adult actresses as paragons of beauty! How far we have fallen!
This idea of worldly beauty is also a direct contradiction with the beauty of God. If God’s beauty is the sum of all things beautiful, then why did people find no beauty in Jesus, the very perfection of humanity and divinity (Isa. 53:20)? Indeed, even though the world is blinded to it, Jesus Christ is the most glorious reflection of beauty that we should ever strive towards. Even creation, one of the most amazing manifestations of God’s beauty, pales in comparison to the Son, through whom and for whom all things were made! The stars are dim compared to the light of Christ, and the world’s biggest oceans cannot compare to the grandeur of our Lord! Praise the Lord Jesus for being the Mediator, that we may also gaze on the united Trinity, whose beauty surpasses all else! Just like the disciples on the mount, who gazed upon Jesus’ transfigured face, may we gaze on His overwhelming beauty!
We need to redefine our ideals of beauty! When we say something is beautiful, do we mean it is like God, or do we only mean it conforms to the world’s idea of beauty? May it be the former! May the things we find beautiful be the things of God. May the beauty that we personally strive for, mean that we are striving to become more like God! May the people we call beautiful be those who reflect God. God, in His holy Trinity, is truly the most beautiful One in all the world, and worthy of our desire!