jordanabina
I truly and wholeheartedly believe that the gifts we’ve been given can be used to glorify God. I believe that when God gave us an imagination and the ability to dream, he didn’t mean for it to end at childhood or to die when we have to get a job.
It doesn’t matter if you are already active in using your creative abilities somewhere, or you have yet to dive in, or better yet if it’s still only a dream; there is a way to both glorify God and use your talents and abilities to bring God glory.
My son, Jadwin, recently drew a picture on a huge piece of green construction paper that my wife had purchased for him. When I walked through my front door he was sprawled out on the floor, markers everywhere, creating this awesome picture. There were scraps of paper everywhere, from the first few drafts and from some of the earlier attempts at his picture.
As he saw me come through the door he screamed, don’t look! Apparently he wasn’t done and was desperate for it to be completed before I saw it. When it was finished, literally like 30 seconds later, he called me over for me to look. I got down, all the way down, on the floor and scooted close to my son.
The picture was a boy on bike riding under a rainbow. There were blue pieces of construction paper glued to the top and green grass scribbled with marker on the bottom. He told me how the lines near the bike were to show how the bike was moving fast and that the smoke coming off the back was from the rockets, obviously.
Then he asked me if I liked it.
Somewhere and at some point in our lives we may have believed the lie the says God doesn’t care about what we do, unless it’s in the church. We’ve listened to a thought that said, this really doesn’t matter to God.
This just simply isn’t true.
God delights in His creation. Listen to Psalm 104:31-35.
31 May the glory of the Lord endure forever;
may the Lord rejoice in his works—
32 he who looks at the earth, and it trembles,
who touches the mountains, and they smoke.
33 I will sing to the Lord all my life;
I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.
34 May my meditation be pleasing to him,
as I rejoice in the Lord.
35 But may sinners vanish from the earth
and the wicked be no more.
Praise the Lord, my soul.
Praise the Lord.
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Did you catch it? Did you see it there in verse 31? The Lord rejoices in His works. You, brother or sister, are His work and He rejoices in His works. Even beyond that, how much more does the Lord rejoice as He sees us use the gifts, abilities, talents that He has given from His design?
Whether you are photographer, winemaker, musician, or margin doodler, you have been designed uniquely by God to color His world and to bring Him glory. Like verse 34 says, whatever your meditation is, whatever you spend your time doing, whatever your creative characteristic may be, may it be pleasing to the Lord!
After my son asked me what I thought, I told him it was amazing. I told him how proud I was of his ability; proud of his expression and that I just thought the world of it. I truly did. He didn’t make it for me, or for anyone else, but Jadwin asked me what I thought, and wanted to share it with me.
It wasn’t just about the picture, it was about relationship.
As you continue on your creative journey, doing whatever it is you do, remember God doesn’t just love you, He likes you too. Who do you think made you to be the way you are? He is totally into seeing your art, getting down on the floor with you and wondering over what you’ve made. Not because it’s the best, or even that’s He’s impressed, it’s because He loves you and rejoices in His creation.
Bring your gifts to the Lord. Find a way to bring God glory in all you do. He’s into it.
Bring Him into your equation. Pray over your work, ask Him for insight and what He might think of the art you create. Some of the things you create will bring life and color to the church, others will illuminate the world around us. In whatever you do, praise the Lord.
