The Beauty of the Father's Love
Greetings, brothers and sisters. This is Dr. James Perry continuing with our series where we seek to
explore the deeper meanings of our relationship with Jesus Christ. Over the years, the heavenly Father
has revealed many revelations of spiritual truth to me, and I want to share them with you. This
morning we seek to understand the beauty of the Father's Love.
And now, sit back and listen to today's message.
The Beauty of the Father's Love
"O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness." Psalm 96, Verse 9.
Brothers and sisters, the Father's love is personally revealed in his son, Jesus, and this love is
manifested in the spirit. And this love is beautiful. There is beauty in love. Wherever love is
displayed, there is beauty. Beauty is unity--the coordination and inclusion of all true meanings and
spiritual values. There is true beauty in all moral acts just as there is ugliness in all immoral acts. It
is very easy to see the ugliness--the evil. But it is somewhat difficult to behold the beauty in moral
acts. But there really is long-suffering, peace and joy in the routine activities of life. Even these
qualities unify to form happiness. They are part of a cycle, as one follows the other.
Long-suffering leads to peace, and peace leads to joy; and joy leads to long-suffering, and so on
without end. Long-suffering (patience in the face of suffering unrighteousness) destroys material hope
and faith, and sets the stage for the birth of spiritual hope and faith. If and when we suffer injustice
year after year, we gradually become convinced that the unjust situation which we are laboring under
will never be rectified; we will assume an attitude that allows us to continue on as best we can in the
very face of the unrighteousness.
But we will say even if things do not change for the better in the future, we must change our attitude
toward this problem today. Thus having resolved within ourselves not to counter evil with evil, but
to overcome evil with good--to overcome unrighteousness with righteousness--we lay hold of that
saving faith, the regenerator of spiritual hope. Long-suffering leads to the realization that even though
we must react to unrighteousness, must experience suffering with it, we are spiritually unharmed by
it.
Our struggle with unrighteousness increases our love of divine righteousness. And thus it is seen that
times of great testing are also times of great spiritual progress. The knowledge that we are unharmed
by acts of unrighteousness leads to the next element of divine beauty--peace.
Divine peace is discovered in a similar fashion. In our lives, temporal peace is a very transient thing.
It often appears that one upsetting thing follows another, and sometimes before we can get through
one disagreeable experience, another is superimposed on the previous one.
This constant state of evaporating peace creates pandemonium and havoc in our material minds.
Again we despair of ever achieving any lasting material and temporal peace, and the anguish of this
state of mind leads to the birth of divine peace, spiritual and eternal peace. While we appreciate
temporal and material peace, we do not base our sense of well being upon such a shaky foundation.
And even though we may crave temporal and material peace, this craving is superseded by an even
greater craving--the craving to do the Father's will. This craving to do the Father's will creates a
peace in the very midst of turmoil. Such a state is a paradox to our material minds, but we experience
the truth of it. Peace does result when the our souls realize that they are indestructible, and the flavor
of this spiritual peace overflows into the material mind. This peace is eternal and spiritual and leads
to everlasting joy.
Spiritual joy like spiritual peace comes about as a result of being disappointed and heart broken over
short-lived temporal joys but long lived sadness. Sorrow is a very distressing emotion, one that leads
to a desire for joy. And sooner or later a desire arises for a lasting joy. This joy has its birth as a
result of the experience with long-suffering and peace.
The consciousness of indestructibility and eternal peace eventuates in a lasting joy, a joy that is free
of and not dependent upon the ups and downs of material reality. The roller coaster of highs and
lows of material life are forever transcended by spiritual joy. And though these qualities are
experienced separately, they are also experienced at the same time, thus creating beauty. There is a
consciousness of pleasure and deep satisfaction that results from being able to perceive the
wholeness of an experience.
It is a beautiful experience to love divinely, to watch the gradual response of applied mercy. It is truly
gratifying to watch as we undergo the transformation of love, and to know by faith that as we love
divinely we are transformed into the image of the Father's Son, Jesus. There is beauty to behold when
consciously receiving the divine values of goodness. It is beauty to realize that truth is good, and that
goodness is true, and that they are both one in beauty.
This concludes today's message on the beauty of the Father's love. We hope you find something in
this message to ponder and pray about as you go about your day. Until next time, this is Dr. James
Perry.
Inspirational Messages
By Dr. James Perry
Your Kingdom Come, Your Will Be Done!
The Beauty of the Father's Love
