One well-recognized avenue for creativity is analogy. With an analogy, thinking about this can give new ideas for that. This means a creative thinker is likely to use metaphors and parables in every aspect of his or her work.
The Bible gives many reasons to believe creative people can learn to excel in creativity if we engage with God in meditative prayer – prayer that listens for His voice. James 1:5 says that if we ask God for wisdom, He will give it.
Our creativity will be at its best if we get in the habit of asking God for creative wisdom, and for His anointing to fill every aspect of our work: our art itself, the process of getting it out to people, and the ministry opportunities that spin off from it. Here are three creative metaphors God has given me.
For my work. I was a young ministry student at Pinecrest Bible Training Center in New York, and the president of the school often told us, “Your words are little dump trucks – they carry something.”
This was his teaching about Jesus’ words in John 6:63 that His words “are Spirit, and they are life.” Wade Taylor was urging us to spend time with God, for only as we did so would we gain this elusive quality of Spirit and life in our own speaking.
Artists speak not in the pulpit but on canvas, in print, in drama, and in a thousand other ways. If Christ lives in you, your work too is a little dump truck, and either it carries Spirit and life or it doesn’t. Much of today’s art carries another spirit, but that’s another story.
How can you get Spirit and life into your own work? Only by spending time with Jesus. Sometimes He will direct your work, giving you creative ideas. Sometimes He will simply bless your work by filling it with His presence.
For marketing. Almost every artist I know loves working and hates marketing, but marketing determines whether we get our work to the people who need it.
I have seen the same principle with ministry. When I travel in ministry, it takes hours to prepare for a meeting that lasts just a few minutes: hours of travel, packing, unpacking, preparing printed handouts or PowerPoint slides, and more. As a pastor, it was the same: building maintenance, getting the word out about special meetings, training various types of workers, and so on.
For Paul the apostle, it included beatings, imprisonment, shipwreck – read the whole list in II Corinthians 11:23-28.
What’s the point? Marketing your art is the same work a preacher has to do to get the message out. If you really expect God to use your art, you will have to make a journey and set the stage for your work to reach those God is sending it to.
This work isn’t self-centered or self-promotion. It is the self-denial Jesus has called every disciple into. Spend time with Him, and let Him direct your journey.
For ministry. Can the arts create ministry opportunities? Many people find they can: taking a concert into a jail, auctioning works in a fund-raiser, involving the homeless in an art project.
Sometimes art gives you a way to do something for the needy; sometimes it empowers you to work with them. A simple parable speaks into this: the sheep and the goats, in Matthew 25:31-46.
I don’t have to write much about this; you probably already know the message of the parable. But as you spend time with Jesus, ask Him: “How can my work feed the hungry? Give drink to the thirsty?” Go through the list of needs in the parable, and let Him surprise you with ministry assignments.
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