BEAUTY IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER

An e-mail was forwarded to my box sometime in December 2011 with the subject as: “BEAUTY IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER”. Looking through out of curiosity with my BlackBerry phone on the go, I gave a little smile slowly but firmly. Hmm the wedding pictures of a Nigerian actor by name Chinedu Ikedieze known by many as “Aki” were a delight to look at; the “very tall” young man and his newly wedded wife of “average” height, it could probably have passed as one of the wonders of our time. (Pardon me there). Truly the whole scenario could be said to be “BEAUTY IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER”; from the eye of the groom, through the eye of the bride, all the way past the eye of friends and well wishers to onlookers and ear-hearers; a true beauty to behold from the hearts of loved ones.

Another look at the phrase, as I pondered over it, my mind went back to the account of creation as recorded by The Holy Bible that “God saw everything that he had made and behold, it was very good.” (Genesis 1: 31; UKJV). All that God made was certified very good by the Creator, the one who could truly behold all of creation in a multi-dimensional and vast manner. I then came to the understanding that life is beautiful, regardless of what people may say or do. Life is a beauty to behold regardless of all that is happening around us; whether good or bad.

Beauty lies in the eye of the one that is beholding (observing, watching, viewing, considering) an entity (anything at all). The parameters of beauty; that make the entity or object in question beautiful, all lie in the eye of the observer. So at the point of conclusive observation, the beholder or viewer could certify the entity in question as beautiful or ugly. S/he has through the level of his own understanding and prowess, classified or placed the entity or object in question on a particular shelf: Beautiful or Ugly.

There are certain parameters that strongly influence what an individual sees or classifies as beautiful and ugly respectively. These are: The Experiences of the person; Level of Understanding of the beholder; Direction in which the observer’s mind is set (popularly known as mindset) and the one who controls the heart. Let’s take them one after the other.

Experience

i.                     Experiences: Experiences from childhood are formative agents. As people grow, experiences from the environment, peers and family upbringing all serve as agents of mind formation. Each and every of these have their place in molding the minds of the beholder. From great experiences to terrible ones, lifting experiences to downward experiences, these occurrences share a token in the ingredients that shape our mindsets. This in turn affects the way we view things; how we look at them, the perspective from which we view them, and our conclusions about things. So a person’s mind may be induced by either positive or negative experience to view something a number of people his age, peers or colleagues call beautiful as ugly.

Understanding

       

ii.                   Understanding:  The level of Understanding of an individual has a high propensity to tilt the inclination of the mind either in the right or wrong direction. In plain words it is that which is underneath a person that makes him/her stand. The higher one is, the better the view of how things are, and the possibility of seeing the beauty in things. Let’s take this scenario: A man standing on a twenty meter high pavement is on a high level, another man standing on a fifty meter high ground. Both on high grounds but one person on a higher ground than the other. Both will see things differently due to the high ground, one with the tendency to see the beauty in things more than the other.

Mindset

                     

iii.                   Mindset: the direction in which a person’s mind is set will determine how s/he will think, see things, understand things and even act. When man was created, his default mind setting was set to see things in a beautiful way (Gen 1: 26 & 27). He had the mind of God, guided by His Spirit. But when man fell, his default setting was rearranged by the act of disobedience to see things in wickedness and unrighteousness (Gen 6: 5).  In Romans 12: 2, The WORD gives a pure solution to the resetting of our minds back to its standard-default settings of beauty and purity so that our minds will continually and intentionally be set back to its standard default settings. This will enable us to see the beauty in all things even in this life.

Hear Controller

Heart Controller

                      

iv.                   Controller of the heart: The direction in which a man’s mind is set is a function of who controls the heart. The heart is like the railway track on which the mind works by. A heart controlled by God through His Spirit will set the mind always in a direction and dimension that will always please the father. The mind is like a train with so much power to think, conceive, calculate and do so much, but without the guidance of the heart by the Holy Spirit, it will be a heaven and a power room for evil and destruction. Just as a train with all its potential beauty cannot be of good use in the right way that it was designed to be without t he railway track, so also the mind cannot conceive good things if it’s not guided by the Spirit of the Living God (Gal 5: 16).

Experiences of life help mould the minds of people, and the level of understanding of the individual will determine what s/he will think of those experiences, how s/he will see them, what s/he will take and learn from such experiences. Experiences can show itself in a seemingly bad manner but the level of understanding of the individual will help determine his/her disposition to such.

The mindset also, which plays a big role, can cause a person never to see any good thing or beauty in anything, little wonder why many commit suicide. It is the debased mind that remains set in sin and wickedness that will see beauty in being gay or being a lesbian. The same mind follows those who cannot see themselves as beautiful until they have pierced or tattooed themselves. on their decide to live their lives choose to be gay or  the that will

The Heart of a man must be controlled and guided by the Holy Spirit on a per-second-billing basis for the mind to be continually set on the rail-road of Eternal life.

One thing that The LORD has been telling us through His servant, the under-shepherd of The New Covenant Baptist Church – Pastor O’ John Omotosho, is that we surrender to Him completely so that the eyes of our understanding will continually be enlightened, that we may come to the realization of who we are in Christ Jesus as a result of what He has done for us on the Cross of Calvary, that we may get to know more the hope of His calling and the boundless riches of the glory that He has in us is. (Eph 1: 18 – 19). This passage is a real eye opener for all who submit to the leading of the Holy Spirit. Let us remember that it is also written that “as many as are led by The Spirit of God are the sons of God”. It did not say as many as “have”, for it is one thing to have and another thing to make use of. Only the one who allows the Spirit to lead him/her in the way of life is truly a child of God (Rom 8: 14)

Beauty and life truly are in the eyes and life of the one who has first of all beheld the Cross, and is still beholding Christ through His word explained by The Spirit. It is such a person that will always be beautiful and see the beauty in all things even when the whole world is turning upside down; even when it seems as if our country Nigeria is going through a shake-up. Such people will see the beauty and be careful not to utter words that do not reveal the beauty of the King of Glory in us, thus beautifying the life of others.