Art As It Should Be
By: Sharon Hughes
Art and creativity are everywhere. On a short walk to the center of my town, I pass vibrant murals on brick facades, a flower shop selling delicate spring blooms, the library hosting a new film photography exhibit, and a local music venue where I can stop in and sway my hips to a new vocalist. I open my phone and get my fill of inspiring interiors, all perfectly symmetrical, and skim poignant blurbs by prolific writers. Art and creativity are everywhere.
You and I walk through our days saturated in art-filled expressions. Where does all this creativity come from? Or better yet, who is the source?
As soon as we crack open our Bibles to Genesis we see that the God of the universe showcases His artistry. He makes the heavens and the earth out of nothing. I love The Message version that says “Earth was a soup of nothingness, a bottomless emptiness…” (Genesis 1:2)
What did God do with the vast abyss of nothingness? He creates. He illuminates the sky with piercing light, he stretches swatches of greenery across the barren ground and pours icy blue water into the deep basins of the ocean floor. He forms creatures to swim, to soar, to sit beneath shaded oak trees. He splashes color, builds in three dimensions and last of all- creates us.
“So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.”
-Genesis 1: 27-28
We are created by the Creator God. However, without the proper understanding of where art and creativity come from, we are at risk of believing the lie that we are the source of what we produce. Because of sin, we take center stage so we can sing to the masses that it starts and ends with us. Then we drop the mic, reveling in the applause.
But as women whose eyes are set on Christ, we know (and sometimes need to be reminded) it is not about us. We have been tasked to participate in what God is doing in the world. We create, not as individualistic creators looking for fleeting applause, but as a team of artists each gifted in a unique way, bearing witness and giving glory to our Creator God.
So go, create! Paint, write, sing, mix, cook, design, whatever God has gifted you with. Each one of us can pursue a different medium believing God is the source of all creativity. And by His grace and kindness, He has allowed us from the beginning of time to participate in showcasing His heart for the world. We get to use art and creativity as tools of redemption to usher in the NEW heavens and earth, where we will saturate the Kingdom that is to come with various expressions of worship to our Creator God. Art and creativity, as it should be, will be everywhere!