Creating the “Crafted Thing”
God is the origin of all creative power. We are all created in God’s image, and all have been granted some measure of creativity. As creatures exercising God’s gift of creativity, it is only right to honor God with it. When we do so, we not only acknowledge God rightfully as the source, but we guide the thoughts of those who look upon our art back to the same. The following equation is inspirational to me and my personal creative process.
As for the equation:
Knowledge – John 17:3 And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
• We take in knowledge about God, from His Word. This illuminates our way, and ultimately means eternal life. The knowledge of who God is and what God has done causes us to grow from what we once were into what we will become. To craft a pleasing thing I must begin humbly, and exercise the creative gift, knowing God firstly and my craft secondarily.
Faith – Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please him…
• Next, add faith to knowledge, for it is impossible to please God without it. Faith is a doorway into the assurance of God’s promises and assertions are reality. By faith I know God exists and that He created the heavens and earth. By that same faith, I know my Maker can bless my efforts to celebrate Him and His creation through my own creation. Knowledge of God informs my faith, they work together.
Imagination – Genesis 1:3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
• Before anything ever was, God had devised it intellectually. When ready to create, God used His voice like an artist uses a brush. God’s voice paints natural wonders and mysteries for me to marvel at. The historicity of the Bible is recorded in the natural world we inhabit. As Creator, He purposely leaves behind clues in this natural world for me to discover about Himself. God wants to be discovered by me, and the only way He can be, is little by little. I am the limiting factor and so God graciously allows me to go at my own pace. This is called a “journey”.
• Back to the equation… Dividing, knowledge plus faith, with imagination is the same thing as dividing a number by zero. Mathematics says the result is infinite or an undefined value, for me and my creative process it is an intellectual space of infinite creative possibility. Imagination has no borders and is not restricted from any sphere of existence or possibility where it might wish to dwell. Human imagination is vast and dangerous, it is best channeled with regard to the Creator’s view of what is pleasing.
The Power of Love – Philippians 2:7 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.
• When considering an “art idea” I ask myself some questions; is the idea honoring to God?; is it a loving expression of truth?; Or another way, will God love the image coming from this idea? For an image to hang in the halls of heaven it must qualify as loving. The single most consequential thing to discover in this world is Jesus Christ. Specifically, who He is. The crafted thing communicates love when it points to Christ as Savior who is centrally important to one’s ultimate lifestyle and fate.
• “I have always observed that people want to fix you with what fixed them”. That is true of me as well. I do not consider myself fixed, but I have been placed upon the road whose destination is that exact outcome. Knowing Christ is what I want for you, so that is what is designed into the art and words of the crafted thing. The power of love in its loftiest form is self-sacrificial and considers what is in the best interest of the recipient primarily.
Time – 1 Corinthians 15:58 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
• Time bonds me to the crafted thing and in a spiritual way to whomever sees it and appreciates it. My time is a sacrificial element, a gift from me to all of you as we journey together. It is the vehicle through which the crafted thing materializes. Time affords me the opportunity to exercise faith that the effort to create something will not be in vain and that my God is honored by it and may actually use it in some subtle way to bless the world.
Why does God wire up some folks to fill their time with artistic expression when there are people to feed and gospel to preach? I would like to answer that: God is the singular embodiment of all admirable qualities and beauty. Simply put when it comes to beautiful things, God is “The whole enchilada”. Artistic expression, for the believer is the quest to see and appreciate an invisible God through what we can create. Images, words, and music are not food born from seed and soil but from a mind hungry to see and draw near to it’s Maker. Artistic expression is a necessary food that feeds faith itself. Christian art can bypass logic and rationale to connect to a deeper spiritual place inside us all. Through this unique connection art promotes thankfulness and contentment in the person of our “Good Shepherd”. Because even though He is not here, He feels a bit closer. Practically speaking, in this world, those feelings, like food itself are fuel to carry on.
