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Why Creativity Isn’t Optional for Christians

Why Creativity Isn’t Optional for Christians

We love to divide people into groups, with labels that make us easy to understand. While this plays out in the Church, in politics and probably innumerable other spaces in our culture, a label millennials love to throw around is “creative.”

You’ve heard people refer to others as “creatives,” to themselves as “a creative” and various other versions. The opposite is true, too: If you’re not the type to consider yourself creative, you think of yourself as, well, not creative. This isn’t really new, is it? People have always been more or less drawn toward creative expression, particularly when it comes to musical or visual creativity.

But what if these distinctions aren’t helpful? What if, for Christians, we’re called to be creative in every aspect of our lives?

Here’s the truth: It’s impossible to lack creativity while standing in the presence of the creator. The Lord has graced us with an intrinsic ability to create. To design beauty from nothing. To write, to draw, to build, to sing and to dance for something and someone bigger than ourselves.

We’re Created With Creative Minds

God breathed life into us knowing that we’d exhibit creativity in all aspects of our lives. And while our skills are a little less “gold-smithing and carpentry,” than Bezalel’s in Exodus, they are no less pertinent to His work on this Earth. Just look at Exodus 35:30-33:

See, the Lord has called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah; and he has filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, with intelligence, with knowledge, and with all craftsmanship, to devise artistic designs, to work in gold and silver and bronze, in cutting stones for setting, and in carving wood, for work in every skilled craft.

We’re Created for Good Works

Not only did God create us with the skills and ability to create, he created us to purposefully do something with them.

The Lord always has a purpose for blessing us with gifts—and He wouldn’t be so clear about our creative prowess if He didn’t expect us to use it without abandon. Ephesians 2:10 says we were “created in Christ Jesus for good works.” Attention, people of the free world, this does not mean to ignore your gifts, talents and innate creativity because you might be too afraid of what the world thinks of you.

We’re Created to Serve

God wants us to live as He did. He was the ultimate servant, the God-man who saw us as we were: broken, helpless, needing a Savior. He knew there would be a lot of work ahead of him. Yet His focus was resolute.

Our creativity is useful. It’s for a purpose. It’s our job to take that gift and find how we can best serve Him with it. If we’re following our insecurities and fears rather than pursuing our creativity, we’re headed in the wrong direction. Turn around. Face your fears, allow the Lord to work through you and see the world change because of your obedience and His guidance.

Theologian Howard Thurman said it this way: “Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”

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