The Longing of the Soul and the Cry of ArtNäide

The Cry for Lost Beauty

God is the original artist. At the end of His work, the Bible says, “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good” (Genesis 1:31, NIV). There was perfect harmony, integrity, and beauty. However, we know that this beauty was fractured. Sin stained God's original masterpiece.

Today, art exists in this tension. A sad song expresses the pain of a broken world, while a stunning painting of a sunset makes us long for a beauty that seems untouched. Art, in its essence, protests against the chaos and ugliness of sin while whispering of the beauty that once was and that longs to return.

The apostle Paul states in Romans that God's glory is visible in creation, “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen” (Romans 1:20, NIV). However, humanity preferred to worship created things rather than the Creator (Romans 1:21). Even so, the longing for true beauty, the kind that points to God, has never been completely erased from us.

This is why art touches us so deeply. It reminds us of a paradise lost. But for the Christian, it does more than that: it points us to the restoration of all things. In Revelation, John has a vision of a “new heaven and a new earth” (v. 1), and he hears the promise from the One on the throne: “I am making everything new!” (v. 5, NIV). Art, at its best, is a prophetic glimpse of this redemption, an echo of the beauty for which we were created and which will one day be fully restored in Christ.

Take a moment in your day to appreciate something beautiful, whether in nature, a melody, or an image. Thank God for this glimpse of the original creation and ask Him to increase in your heart the longing for the final restoration of all things.