Life as Ascetics vs. Aesthetics

I used to think of my life as a Christian more in terms of ascetics—self discipline and restraint. Now I tend to see it in terms of aesthetics—an association with beauty and the creative arts. The former is what we can primarily get caught up with. But, the Christian life, it seems to me is all about a certain kind of aesthetic. It is a preoccupation with the beauty of God and the beauty or art of loving others. It's a life that participates in God's creative work of redemption, not primarily self-discipline and restraint for its own sake. An artist is disciplined in order to create art. World class musicians can spend hours and hours a day doing basic exercises on their instruments in order to keep up their skill. But these musicians do not have self-discipline for its own sake. They have it in order that they might play—create beautiful music. We believers must have self-discipline and restraint, but it is all for the sake of making music with our lives. We are only doing what we were created to do. The Father breathed His life into us and that life is centered in relationship.