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Now that the ministry of Full of Eyes is up and running, my hope is to return to regular blogging as I had been doing in the past.
The goal of this blog will be twofold.
- First, I plan to share thoughts on God’s Word and world. This will entail walking through various passages and teachings of scripture in search for the beauty of God in Christ.
- Secondly, I’d like to give regular updates on specific work that God is doing through Full of Eyes in a “newsletter” style format.
The plan is to begin by posting 2 to 3 times a week, and we’ll see where it goes from there.
In the first series of posts, I’ll be unfolding the Mission and Philosophy of Full of Eyes. I’ve written this as if there are multiple artists working with the ministry because my hope is that the Lord might expand FOE to one day be a collaborative effort to see, savor and sing the glory of God in Christ through expository art.
We’ll begin with the “Mission Statement” of the ministry.
What is the Mission of Full of Eyes?
“Full of Eyes exists to help people see, savor, and sing the beauty of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”
To See: The artists at Full of Eyes are to be voracious, careful, and happy students – primarily of God’s Word and secondarily of God’s world. In our age, it is only through the Word of God that God infallibly reveals Himself to us. It is only in the passages and propositions of scripture that the heart and mind and character of the Living God are expounded to us. And it is only now in scripture that we can gaze into the face of Jesus Christ (2 Cor.3:18), the image of God, and know Him truly. Therefore, the “seeing” that Full of Eyes artists engage in is primarily the seeing of God in scripture.
Secondarily, the artists at Full of Eyes are to see God in the world. From subatomic root to trans-galactic leaf, The Creator has communicated Himself to us in creation (Rom. 1:19-20), and for those who read it through the spectacles of scripture, there is much to be discovered.
The hope for our art is that it would flow from ones who have rightly seen God in Christ and would be a means of others rightly seeing God in Christ.
To Savor: At Full of Eyes we will seek not only to see true things of the Lord in His Word and world, but also to rightly savor these things. As Jonathon Edwards has said” He that testifies his idea of God’s glory [doesn’t] glorify God so much as he that testifies also his approbation of it and his delight in it.” In other words, a good meal is “glorified” not simply by my telling someone it is delicious, but by my eating it and expressing delight in it. By God’s grace, our own hearts will delight in the glory of God that we’ve seen and our art will be an overflow of this delight.
The hope for our art is that it would flow from ones who have savored God in Christ and would be a means of others savoring God in Christ.
To Sing: The “singing” referred to here does not need to be musical (though it could be), rather, it is the communicative overflow of a heart ravished by the beauty of God revealed in the scriptural Christ. In scripture the worship of God’s people rises up from their perception of His supremacy and is in itself their witness to the nations (Ps.96:2-4); that is the sort of “singing” the artists at Full of Eyes seek to do. By God’s grace, our art will be a cathartic and communicative overflow of hearts that have truly seen God in His Word and World, and truly savored His beauty by the Spirit. This overflow – this singing – will not simply be a form of worship for the artist, but a catalyst to worship in those who receive it.
The hope for our art is that it would be a song of worship from the artist and a witness that leads to worship in those who receive it.
The Beauty of God in the Face of Jesus Christ: The human heart discerns God to be beautiful when it receives a revelation of Him as He is (especially in His holiness), and “tastes” that revelation as pleasing, joy-giving, sweet, compelling, or heart-thrilling . It is the recognition that all beauty in this world – physical, emotional, or spiritual – is pleasing only because it reflects the character of God; and that all ugliness in this world – physical, emotional, or spiritual – is revolting only because it strays from the character of God. Where is this “character of God” displayed? In scripture, and chiefly in Christ.
When God communicates Himself to His creature through His word such that the communication yields a joy in the creature’s heart that surpasses and folds in all other joys – the beauty of God has been seen.
Now, two things must be noted. First, God cannot be seen as beautiful (as I am defining it) apart from the supernatural enabling of the Holy Spirit who opens our eyes to see surpassing beauty where once there was only ugliness, folly, or boredom (2 Cor.3:18, 4:4-6).
Secondly, the beauty of God is seen most supremely at the cross of Christ. I say this because it is at the cross that God most definitively declares Himself to His creatures (John 1:18, 8:28, 13:1, 17:26, 1 John 4:8-10). Therefore, if the beauty of God is God Himself truly perceived by the eyes of faith such that the heart is enthralled and overjoyed by what it sees, then it is at the cross – where God is supremely declared to us in His Son’s passion – that we will taste His beauty most potently.
To “sing the beauty of God in the face of Jesus Christ” is to create art in such a way that God might be tasted as supremely satisfying in His holiness and myriad perfections (beautiful), especially as seen in the person and work of Jesus Christ, climaxing in the Cross Event.
