The Beauty We Long For - Devotion for July 28

One of the “must-sees” in my trip to Rome was The Birth of Venus by Botticelli.

When I walked into the room in which it hung, it took my breath away. This is one of the most iconic paintings of the Italian Renaissance. It depicts the Roman goddess Venus emerging from the seas, standing on a scallop shell. According to classical mythology, Venus was born from sea foam—the moment captured in the painting. The wind Gods are on the left, blowing her toward shore. The goddess Hora is on the right and waits in a flower-patterned robe to cloth Venus in a similar robe. As the goddess of spring, Hora signifies growth, renewal, and the welcoming of beauty into the world.

Venus is windswept and radiant, the embodiment of ideal beauty and love. Her pose is gentle and poised, her gaze serene, untouched by the world around her. For centuries, this painting has captivated viewers—not just because of its technical brilliance, but because it speaks to something deep within the human soul: the longing for beauty, love, and transcendence.

That longing is not foreign to faith—it’s central to it.

David, in Psalm 27:4, expresses a very similar yearning: not for myth or mythological perfection, but for the beauty of the living God. He writes, “One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple." He doesn’t ask for power, not victory, not even safety, though he needs all those things. Just this: to dwell in God’s presence and to gaze on his beauty.

We were created to seek beauty because we were created to know God. The allure of Venus—graceful, mysterious, flawless—is a shadow of a greater reality: the glory of the One who made us, who is love, and whose beauty isn’t just seen on a canvas, but experienced in Christ.

And here's the Gospel twist: while Venus stands aloof on the edge of the shore, untouched, Christ wades into the brokenness of the world. He doesn’t remain an image of beauty; He becomes beauty broken—for us. Not romanticized or idealized, but redemptive and real.

So when we stand before beauty—be it in art, nature, or people—may it turn our gaze toward the One in whose presence all longing is fulfilled.

Featured art: The Birth of Venus, by Sandro Botticelli, 1485, Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy