Wisdom plus creativity: what is God's purpose for your gift?

What’s God’s purpose for me? It’s a BIG question. But, God is big. And I believe God likes questions, and I believe He takes pleasure in answering ours– on His time. I feel like I’ve been asking this a lot lately, which is why I want to write about it.

I was recently asked what my passion was. The initial answer that popped into my head was writing, but when I took a few seconds, I said the whole truth: “To make things; to create.”

I think a more accurate question to represent our whole question would be, What’s God’s purpose for my gift, you know that thing I’m just really good at?

Some of my earliest memories are spending afternoons in my childhood backyard building houses and other structures out of sticks and rocks, or drawing and stapling together coloring books for my little sister to use, or designing games for us to play that ended up carrying on for years– some of my favorite memories are of just my sister and I playing some weird little game we made up for hours on a foggy Fall morning. We had one where we just took turns tossing a rock down the walkway to our front porch while waiting for the bus…

God is the Creator

It’s astonishing to me how someone can deny that God exists, let alone deny that He created the world and everything in it. How ignorant someone has to be of the world around them in order to not see Him in everything: the intricacy of snowflakes (have you ever seen a macro photo of a snowflake? It’s insane how dainty, perfect, and symmetrical they are); the aerodynamics of planes and how our skies are designed so perfectly that something that huge and heavy would be safe in-flight at a specific altitude; the science of everything from bumble bees to trees– how everything around us is alive and purposeful and has an important and perfect contribution to our world from sun-up to sun-down.

What’s the opposite of God creating everything? One day it all just appeared on its own, and every creature just had a purpose and everything just… worked? No. There had to have been a mastermind behind all of that. The miracles of nature are no coincidence.

It’s undeniable that God created everything we see, as well as everything we can’t see. I’m more interested in God’s creativity. He paints sunsets and decorates the sky with rainbows after the rain washes over a new canvas; He dotted the night with balls of light called stars that confound our understanding of time–

Did you know that when you’re looking at the stars, you’re seeing light that traveled nearly 9 years to make it visible to your eye? We see stars as they were years before.

Creation is a movement forward.

It’s constantly building on top of what was already there. It’s true that harping on situations or issues from our past leads to a block in the road; it leads to feelings of regret, shame, and guilt, among others; it also blocks our creative processes. The coolest part of this, though, is that God literally made it so that the only way we could truly look into the past is by looking up at the stars, where He is.

That’s truly amazing to me.

Everything has a purpose. The stars light up the sky. They provide travelers with direction, scientists with information, and us with the knowledge and foundation of God’s promises to Abraham.

I remember saying to someone I loved, “If I ever lost my ability to write, I think I might just die.” And while I was half-joking, it’s a statement to think about…

God loves and rejoices when the things — or beings– He’s created fulfill their purpose. Their purpose is His will because He created everything. What’s our purpose? To glorify Him and reflect Him in the way we live our lives. We are made in His image. How can we deny our creative nature, then, if we see our lives through our God lens? How else do we reflect the nature of our Creator without thus creating ourselves?

I’m reading Bill Johnson’s Dreaming with God right now. It’s been more than a blessing. In chapter 2 he writes, “His children should bear His likeness, which means they should be creative.” He also says our goal is to represent Him well. (41)

Artistic expression is a gift. It reflects God when we let the Holy Spirit pour into us and pour out beautiful, wildly creative displays of His imagination. When we surrender our creative impulses to God’s will, amazing things happen.

When He redirected my Creativity

I remember being in grad school and finishing my memoir, just buttoning up the last few chapters, making sure everything was in order form start to finish. When I handed it in, I felt on top of the world. A Master’s Degree. It was done.

But, still, somehow I knew in my heart and in my mind that that wasn’t my memoir.

There were versions of me between those hundred-and-something pages that I almost felt ashamed of because I knew they weren’t honest— most importantly, God was absent from my writing, so how could it be honest? I’d spent a little over 2 years perfecting the art of the em-dash, polishing up my introduction paragraphs into new chapters, pouring my heart out– or so I thought.

But He convicted me only a few short months after. I’d just recently decided to give my life back to Him; He’d just found me again, took me in His arms, and invited me back home– home. The whole thesis and topic of my memoir was what home means. And I had gotten it wrong.

So, I heard His voice. Now write your real story. Put Me in it.

My memoir needs a God-revision. My creativity needed a God jolt in the heart to spring life into it once more. It’s for God’s purpose. So I said, “Here, take my pen.”

Why was it so important to give my creativity to God?

The enemy doesn’t understand creativity

I love what Bill Johnson says:

“When creativity is the normal expression of God’s people there is something that happens to all who oppose Him. They become disheartened. The devil himself has no creative abilities whatsoever.” (43)

I love that he uses that term normal. As humans, we tend to compare ourselves too much to others and judge accordingly. This is also true when we look at accomplishments or creations of others…

“I’m a writer too, but I’m nowhere near as good as you!”

“Wow, after seeing your work, I’ll never [X] again.”

“After hearing that, I’ll just put my piano away forever– I give up!”

Even though it can be an unintentional dig at ourselves in what was meant to be cute, it’s a passive aggressive compliment, and it’s harmful because it takes away from the gift God has given you. But when we start to think of our creative expression as a normal, everyday occurrence, as we seek and rely on God’s wisdom, we leave room for Him to reveal its purpose. It strengthens us.

And, like Bill says, the devil has not one creative ‘bone’ in his body– he can only tear things down. But don’t you know that when we build on faith, on a foundation of God’s Word, the enemy has no authority for destruction?

God’s purpose is greater than any evil plan to try and tear you down.

You may be a writer, or a painter, a musician, teacher, architect, marketing boss, sales warrior, actor, chef… whatever you do, whatever your passion is, there is an inheritance of creativity because God gave it. God cares about it and has a purpose for it.

I thank God for the gift He’s given me. And even if I don’t yet fully understand what the outcome is going to be, I can’t wait to see what He does.

all for God’s purpose: when He chooses us

God chose Bezalel to build His tabernacle. What would you think if Bezalel said, “Ehh, I’m pretty good at what I do, God, but this other guy I know does it way better than me so maybe he should do it.”

Really?

The Bible says:

I have filled Him with the Spirit of God in wisdom in understanding, in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, to design artistic works, to work in gold, silver, in bronze, in cuttine jewels, or setting, in carving wood, and to work in all manner of workmanship. (Exodus 31:3-5 NKJV)

God knew before He even asked that Bezalel was the right man for the job. Bezalel didn’t pass that opportunity on to someone else; he didn’t doubt his capabilities or question why God chose him. He instead fully surrendered his artistic gifts and built the house. God had filled him with the Holy Spirit so he could use his creativity and wisdom to accomplish the work.

Why do we need wisdom?

The Bible says Wisdom was with God when He created the Heavens and Earth, meaning wisdom existed before creation and worked with and for Creation.

When He assigned to the sea its limit, so that the waters would not transgress His command, when He marked out the foundations of the earth, Then I was beside Him, as a master craftsman. And I was daily in His delight, Rejoicing always before Him, Rejoicing in His inhabited world, And my delight was with the sons of men. (Proverbs 29-31 NJKV)

Wisdom is the master craftsman. Wisdom has been necessary for creativity from Day One.

Jesus was a carpenter when He was on Earth. I’ve been thinking on this as long as I’ve been meditating on God as the ultimate Creator. I think it says a lot about the nature of God and His creativity. Jesus as a man built and fixed things. He was a handyman, and this reflected God’s ability to create with just a word or a wave of His hand. Jesus built, and always on the foundation of knowing God was His Father, and then he said he would build his church. Jesus gave God the glory in everything he did. When the Bible tells us to be like Jesus, I think this is a perfect example.

God didn’t question his artistic ability. He spoke, and creation happened. The Bible explains this almost effortlessly. It just happened. Because God is the ultimate Creator. It’s in His nature.

You can’t stop what God has started.

Artists don’t sit down and force themselves to create something out of nothing. We are compelled by the natural artistic nature within us. And when we allow ourselves to be filled with the Holy Spirit within us, when we freely create with the goal to glorify God, when we seek His wisdom, we are choosing to embrace our God-given gift. And it’s beautiful.

We are His creation. The Bible says:

“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10 ESV)

I once heard someone say it this way: “We are God’s poetry.”

When God said, “I will build my church,” He was using the word “build” to describe His people– His church. And I believe the way He does this is by using His people’s creativity and gifts for His glory. YOU, yes you have God’s gift, you have a God purpose. God wants to use your creativity. What is He calling you to do? He has called you higher.

Look up!