Called To Create

For the last decade of my life, I’ve had the unique privilege of working as an artist, author, speaker, and entrepreneur. While my most obvious gift may be as a painter, I’ve been creative my whole life, using whatever medium I could get my hands on. Whether it was learning how to successfully navigate a new culture as an immigrant to the United States in my early life, learning a complicated piece of piano music in my teen years, applying my mind to the intricacies of biological sciences in college, or eventually finding a passion for art, I’ve tapped into creativity, given by God, since an early age.

And, whether you believe me or not, I think you’re creative, too.

Before you dismiss my declaration with your own stories about glue guns gone amok, failing grades in a high school art class, or your inability to draw anything but a stick figure, may I remind you what is true?

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. Genesis 1:26–27

We were made in God’s image. What does that mean?

The French artist Edgar Degas once said, “Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.” Though Degas was no theologian, he managed to perfectly describe the account in Genesis 1. God makes man in his image, after his likeness. For what purpose?

For the purpose that any image has: to display something. We’re to reflect the image of God to others.

A Work of Art

We were lovingly created to declare the most significant stories our Savior has to tell.

If art gives form to the most significant stories an artist seeks to tell, you and I are the work of our Creator God’s hands, divine art designed to show the world his glory. We’re not made to shine brighter than others, look more beautiful, or make a name for ourselves. We were lovingly created to declare the most significant stories our Savior has to tell: he made everything in the created order from nothing, and he makes broken things beautiful.

The Apostle Paul takes it one step further and says in Ephesians 2:10, “We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

The Greek word used for “workmanship” in Ephesians 2 is poiema, from which we get our English words poem and poetry. Poetry is art. The best art is beautiful, unique, and treasured. Paul uses this word to describe Christ-followers—image-bearers—to indicate just how much we are the artistry of a good, creative God. You are the work of his hands—divine poetry made to bring him glory.

When God creates, he always makes a masterpiece. He is impeccable, giving the greatest attention to detail. He is not half-hearted in his workmanship or undecided in his purpose. Even the inky seas and watercolor sunsets serve their purpose, if only to declare his glory and cause praise to swell in our hearts. God is a masterful artist. We were lovingly created in Christ Jesus for good works designed by God—“prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10).

Created to Create

Creating and our call to create are not bound by musical instruments, paints, or a chisel. We might associate the arts with creativity, but to create, by definition, is to bring into existence something that was not there before. It is to give definition out of imagination, to form solutions where only questions existed, to bring order out of disorder, to bring to effect ambiance or experience where it did not exist previously.

If men and women, made in the image of God are works of art—the creative genius of the One who defines creativity—then what does that mean for our own creativity and artistic giftings? Does it really matter that we’ve been made in the image of a creative God? It does, absolutely! Creativity is an integral part of how God invites his image-bearers to experience, acknowledge, and give praise to the Master Artist himself. We have the capacity to think and work creatively because God created us to do so. We organize our beloved books on shelves, choose paint colors for our homes for the ambiance we want to exude, and color code our filing systems. We plant gardens according to season, color contrast, and texture. We set a Thanksgiving table with place settings that give order to the meal and the experience of a holiday feast. We get to express beauty, order, the nuances of color, and the intricacies of pattern, all because a holy God created us to experience awe, wonder, and his glory, even in a sin-cursed world that doesn’t acknowledge him.

When we doubt or shirk our creative abilities as an integral part of our identities, our actions intimate that we do not believe what God’s Word says is true about who he is and his purposeful care in creating us as image-bearers. When we refuse to embrace opportunities to express our creativity—whether artistic or otherwise—we miss out on reflecting the image of a creative God.

Alternatively, when we recognize our creativity as a gift to glorify God and not ourselves, we begin to look for ways to steward the creative giftings, skills, talents, and unique wirings he’s given us. As we do so, we uncover the potential given to us by God himself and understand a little bit more each time what it means to be made in his image.

Whether you think of yourself as a creative person or not, consider this: if God saw fit to create uniquely beautiful things, you as his image-bearer also get to reflect a small piece of that same creativity. What a gift!

The Creativity of Sanctification

Beyond being made as creative beings in the image of our Creator God, designed as his physical masterpieces (Ephesians 2:10), God continues to image himself in us as his ongoing creative handiwork through the gift of sanctification.

Sanctification is the progressive, ongoing work by which God molds a Christ-follower into his likeness as we trust him to do the work. From the beginning of our lives to the end, and for everything in between, he is the Potter, and we are the clay.

“But now, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.” Isaiah 64:8

God fashioned, created, molded, and designed us. And he continues to do so day by day.

“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.” Romans 8:28–30

For those who follow Jesus, God is actively changing us—our hearts, our desires, the way we see the world—and making us new, making us more like Jesus. He is the Artist, and we are his workmanship, created to tell the divine story of God’s glory.

Arts in Practice

Christ-followers can contribute to the tone, tenor, content, and conversation of the world by both making and valuing creativity. Here are three considerations for believers desiring to embrace creativity as a necessary, rather than extravagant, part of their God-given identity.

1. Use your giftings right where you are.

Don’t wait for the perfect opportunity, and don’t be distracted by someone else’s gifts, success, or fruitfulness. If you love to write music, do it no matter how big or small the audience. If you’re a culinary artist, make food so delicious that people can’t help but reflect on the goodness of God. If spreadsheets are your love language, create beauty and order in the algorithms you generate. Each of us has been given gifts designed to reflect our Creator, and we get to use them to glorify God.

2. Welcome the arts as an integral part of your faith journey and in the church.

If you’ve viewed creativity and the arts as frivolous or unnecessary, consider a paradigm shift and look for ways art can be incorporated into healthy and Christ-honoring expressions of faith. As we reach out to a world desperate for wonder and worship, we have incredible opportunities to reflect the Creator in the context of a Christ-following community that values and extols art, and in turn, presents the creativity, beauty, and intentional storytelling of a God who’s pursuing each of us. Some ideas to consider: 1) Invite artists in your church community to contribute to an exhibition based on your church’s current sermon series. 2) Incorporate video to set the tone or tenor for worship, rather than using videography exclusively for promotional work. 3) Support local productions and concerts produced by schools, homeschool groups, or other community groups.

3. Keep your eyes on Christ so that your creativity points others to a God worthy of worship.

Practice your craft, hone your skills, and be an excellent steward of what God has given you. But remember to look to Jesus first and always. Be inspired by his character and his goodness instead of what you see yourself reflecting.

Adorning the Gospel

One of the ways I often describe my work and the vision for GraceLaced, the art-based company I founded and lead, is that I feel called to offer my gifts back to God and to adorn the inherent beauty of the gospel. For me, an image-bearing artist, this objective often looks like painting plants, flowers, creatures, or designs that help you see the meticulously crafted design of the Master Artist. Being an image-bearing author, speaker, and podcaster means using my words to help direct a reader’s or listener’s attention and heart’s gaze toward the Creator. And being an image-bearing entrepreneur means wholeheartedly stewarding the platforms God has given me with attention to detail and excellence, directing all glory back to him.

I’m convinced that painting Scripture verses and writing praise music aren’t the only creative ways we bring glory to God and turn hearts and eyes to our Creator God. No, what glorifies God is more than simply the content of our creative efforts, but the hearts and lives from which they flow. Art is an important piece of how God’s own creativity is reflected, but it’s not the only way Christ-followers embrace the creativity imbued on them by Creator God.

Regardless of industry or context, the goal of an image-bearer is the same: to exalt Christ by reflecting him in whatever we do. That sounds a lot easier than it sometimes feels. In a world full of distractions, unending entertainment, and an overwhelming amount of images before our eyes at all times through our devices, I’m more aware of this simple truth than ever before: we become what we behold.

Paul articulates it this way for the Corinthian church: “We all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18).

Where we set our gaze will shape who we become. What captures our hearts and minds will affect the way we communicate with those around us. We will overflow with what we take in the most. Which is to say, we’ll bear his image most faithfully when we’re looking at him most intently.

Let it be our great motivation and conviction to fix our eyes on Jesus so that we might emanate the very beauty of Christ in our creative endeavors and in our very beings—God’s masterpieces—so the world must see the image of the Creator and follow him.