What Will You Behold?

“We become what we behold.”  William Blake

“We are being transformed into His likeness by looking intently on who He is.” Ruth Chou Simons in Beholding and Becoming.

In the middle of a tough season, when many are having trouble getting into the Christmas spirit, one of my friends has been radiant with newfound joy. Her whole demeanor has changed, and she expects God to begin moving in a big way. So what’s her secret? Why does she have a stocking full of Christmas cheer while mine if filled with lumps of coal?

She’s been spending time with God.

As she sits in His Presence, some of His love, joy, and peace has been rubbing off on her. She is being transformed, because, well,  we become what we behold.

John Mark Comer, in his book The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry, puts it this way:

“Put another way, the mind is the portal to the soul, and what you fill your mind with will shape the trajectory of your character. In the end, your life is no more than the sum of what you gave your attention to. That bodes well for those apprentices of Jesus who give the bulk of their attention to him and to all that is good, beautiful, and true in his world. But not for those who give their attention to the 24-7 news cycle of outrage and anxiety and emotion-charged drama or the nonstop feed of celebrity gossip, titillation, and cultural drivel… But again: we become what we give out attention to, for better or worse.”

We often have high expectations for holiday happiness. But when life doesn’t live up to our expectations, we try to fill our empty places with decorating, shopping, parties…or (fill in the blank with your diversion of choice). But what if, instead, we took time to behold God?

What if we stopped to remember there is Someone greater than ourselves, someone who has answers to the questions we didn’t even think to ask?

And what if we paused to acknowledge a spiritual realm beyond what our senses perceive?

Then what if we simply sat in silence for a while, not asking for anything, but simply beholding…and allowing God to change us from the inside out?

We don’t even need the familiar Christmas icons…the Christmas tree, the Nativity scene, the holly and the ivy…in order to behold God. He is here. He is everywhere, seated on His throne in heaven but equally present in the ordinary, the mundane, the everyday.

Reach for More

Where do you behold God? When you’re sitting in a comfortable chair with your Bible open and a candle burning? Do you see Him in the outdoors as you observe the wonders of creation? In a church building? Under the stars?

Music stirs my soul and helps me connect with God. So I’ve shared a couple of songs to lead you to behold God.

Scripture for Meditation

“And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” II Corinthians 3:18 ESV

Father, we have no words to adequately worship. As we behold you, will you change us, little by little, and make us more like you?