Isn’t it amazing that people the world over see beauty in selfless action? When people bravely and unselfishly help others, the universal response is the same — admiration, affirmation, exaltation. And the more selfless the act is, the more beautiful it is.
I’m persuaded that these are intimations of what ultimate glory is all about. When we reach a glory that is so great that there is no glory beyond it, what do we see? We meet a being who has absolutely zero self-regard. We stand before a being who thinks, says, and does everything with 100% attention and devotion to the complete wellbeing of every living thing. We come face to face with the essence, the gold standard, of beauty.
Add to that what is also the universal experience of what makes for true happiness. We all know that our greatest joys in life arise out of doing something for someone that truly helps that person. I defy you to come up with a happier moment in your life than when someone was deeply grateful to you for the difference you made in his or her life. And the more helpful it was the greater your joy in having done it.
So where can we witness ultimate joy, a joy beyond which there is no greater joy to behold? We will encounter it in the presence of the being whose life — every thought, word, and action — is perpetually active to maximally benefit all creation.
This perfectly and gloriously beautiful and joyful being is God. To stand in his presence is to come under a torrent of unimaginable and incalculable tenderness and care. It is to be immersed in his overflowing interest in you that says to you, in effect, “I live to fill you with my beauty and joy. Open up to me.”
He says in Psalm 81:10, “Open wide your mouth and I will fill it.” What does that entail? We open up to him the same way we open up to a good friend. We share our most intimate thoughts with him in ever increasing measure — our fears and longings, our sins and failures, our hurts and disappointments, our joys and sorrows — and then we trustingly wait on him to do what he promised and fill us.
