The Beatific Vision

This beatific vision is waiting somewhere in the future for each of us, if we are Christ’s—for some farther off, for some nearer; nearer, perhaps, than they think. But it cannot come too soon if we are living faithfully, for only in what men misname dying can we reach the crowning blessedness of faith—seeing Christ face to face! For the present, however, our place is still in this world, because we have something of God’s will yet to do here. But even here we can see the face of our Master by faith, and be thrilled by its glory, as we behold it in adoring love and deep humility. And though we are not aware of it ourselves, others see the beauty of that face coming slowly, yet unmistakably, into our own faces.

That is what Paul says: “God… hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”* (2 Corinthians 4:6) That is, God would put the shining picture of Jesus Christ into our hearts, and that will transfigure us.

On the first Christmas night a little company of lowly shepherds saw the first shining of the face of Jesus in this world. It was only a small baby-face in a Bethlehem manger then. Now the glory streams over all lands. It is ours to help all men to see that glory. We have no picture to scatter over the earth which will show men the loveliness we see in Christ. Telling the story of the love of Christ is one way of doing this. But that is not the only way. We will best do our part and fulfill our task if we reproduce the beauty of that face in our own lives, so that each of us shall make a little Christmas every day in one small corner of the earth.

There are many pleasant things in this world which we may miss and not be the poorer. But if we miss being fashioned into the beauty of Christ, nothing else we may gain will compensate for the loss.

Many good people seem to fail in life. They toil through all their years, and at the last their hands are empty. Yet if in all their striving they have always been doing the will of God humbly and faithfully—then their lives have not been failures. While they have not won the earthly prizes this world values, they have been gaining something far better by growing day by day into the beauty of the Lord!