God the Creator

When originally asked to write an entry for the HERblog, I was not at all that sure about agreeing to write one. I am not a writer. Sure, I am a creative – I’ve been an art educator and have a visual creative practice of sorts. But writing… paragraphs… texts… blogs… I do not. It has definitely been a long time since I’ve had to write like this, a more structured piece. I like to read – books, articles, and poetry. I actually follow a fair few writers on socials, including the talented Amanda Viviers who has already written an installment for HERblog called ‘Trusting God When You Don’t Know How To Fix It’ (if you haven’t yet read it, I highly recommend that you do!). So to say I am freaking out about writing a piece AFTER Amanda, who I follow on the ‘gram,’ is an understatement! What did I agree to? I’ll just have to write on what I know and feel that I do best- creativity!

As defined by the Encyclopedia Britannica, creativity is ‘the ability to make or otherwise bring into existence something new, whether a new solution to a problem, a new method or device, or a new artistic object or form’.

It’s why as Christians, we refer to God as the Creator. Genesis 1:1 states it clearly with ‘In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth’; Genesis then goes on to detail God creating light, day, night, stars, the sun, the moon, land, seas, animals, plants and us-human beings! We believe God created it all. This also means that having made us in His image (Genesis 1:27), we all have some level of creativity since we are all made in the image of God- we are His creations! Whether it’s to write, draw, sing, dance, compose, build, cook, capture, dress, design, or develop – I could go on – we all have an inherent ability to create. We are made in the image of THE Creator, which means it’s impossible for anyone of us to lack creativity; we are creators too.

Whatever our skill or passion maybe, we need to bring our best to God. Martin Luther once said, “The Christian shoemaker does his duty not by putting little crosses on the shoes, but by making good shoes, because God is interested in good craftsmanship.” This is especially important if you are in creative ministry, as what is created and presented, I believe, should be a reflection of Christ and what he has done for us on the cross, as well as the gospel message. And if it is reflecting Christ and the gospel message, it should be done to the very best of our abilities.

In Matthew 25:14-30, Jesus is speaking to His disciples when he tells of a master who was leaving his house to travel, and, before leaving, entrusted his wealth to his servants. According to the abilities of each servant, one received five bags of gold, the second received two, and the third received only one. Upon returning home, after a long absence, the master asks his three servants for an account of the gold he entrusted to them. The first and the second servants explain that they each put their bags of gold to work, and had doubled the value of which they were entrusted; each servant had been faithful to do what the master had required of them and they were rewarded. The third servant, however, had merely hidden his bag of gold, as they were afraid to lose the master’s wealth, burying it in the ground. This servant’s unfaithfulness cost them and they were dismissed. I believe that Jesus uses the Parable of the Bags of Gold to help us understand our calling as Christians and our responsibility to use what God has given us; we too need to care and steward our gifts and talents. Those of us who have been gifted artistic creativity by God need to then develop, fine-tune and practice those skills and abilities that He has bestowed upon us, so that what we are making and producing is good – ‘good craftsmanship’

Your gifts and abilities are unique to you, and they reflect a God just as extraordinary. Ephesians 2:10 says ‘for we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works’. In whatever way you express creativity, whatever your passion may be; we have all been called to share it with others, to use it to spread The Good News, to celebrate God and to bring glory and honour to Him.