Ministering to artists ministering through the arts.
A lot of people, including some new friends have asked me about gifts, talents and calling. I am thinking through a more extensive post or project on the topic, but I decided to crystallize some basic thoughts over at my web-comic CREACHER. These are just the basics, more to come.
“The world in which we live equally distributes talent…” It’s a direct quote from a Southern New Hampshire University commercial and I couldn’t disagree more if I tried. First of all the world doesn’t distribute talent, talent comes from a much higher authority, from God Himself. Secondly, it is not equally distributed—not even close. Oh I believe everyone gets at least one, but some get many and that’s okay as well. The speaker then speaks about the uneven distribution of opportunity. Unfortunately that’s true too, but here’s what I know. None of that frees us from the obligation to do whatever we have with whatever we’ve been given. If you have one talent, put it to good use, if you have a hundred, put as many of them to use as you can. God expects it, that’s why He gave them to you. If you have a million opportunities you’re responsible to use them all and if you only have one, you have a choice, you can lament that you only have that one or you can make the most of it. I’m not belittling a lack of opportunity or injustice, just laying out the choice.
I used to think I made my own breaks. I’ve since given up on that line of thinking. I use to wonder why I got some opportunities, and got overlooked for others, all it did was make me doubtful, discourages and bitter. Creatives can’t afford any of that. Instead we need to seek out the opportunities, pray and do the work. We need to be bold, creative and trusting. Ephesians 5 reminds us: “15 Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.” We need to live God honoring lives and making the most of every opportunity in these evil says, and these days are evil. The gifts, talents and opportunities we have been given are given to us to make the world a better place and point it to its only hope.
Paul gives us some further information on how to live this out. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. 18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, 20 always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
At the end of the day, this is what it call comes down to. Talents are out of our control, to some degree so are the opportunities, but what we do with them well my friend that is in our hands. Live wise, seek God’s will, stay pure and sober, worship the One who gives it ALL, and live in grateful inspiration and anticipation. Use all you have to God’s glory, He’ll take care of the rest. He might even use you to make these days a little less evil.
God has a plan and a purpose for your life and I believe your gifts and talents figure mightily into that plan. Just as in the Parable of the Talents, the master gives each of his servants talents to invest for the sake of his Kingdom, so our Lord has invested talents in us. These talents belong to the master and have been given to make great gains for His kingdom. Consider what this means. In Christianity, belief in God is vital, but this passage (it’s found in Matthew 25) tells us that in a very real way God believes in us… In you!
None of is in this world accidentally. You were created on purpose for a purpose. Ephesians 2:10 says “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do. To live out this calling is a huge part of your destiny in Christ, and in it you will find the meaning of your life. Your talents are a huge part of God’s plan. Submit your gifts to the will of the Father and see where He takes you.
Live the plan!
I painted in church this morning, but this was a little different than my usual approach. Usually I paint illustratively—the painting subject helps to tell my story. Today it didn’t really matter what I painted. I ended up “channeling” Bob Ross and painting a ten minute scenery, complete with happy little clouds and friendly little trees. All I was missing was the pet raccoon and the afro. You see in this painting what mattered was the process rather than the product.
My message was on vision and the point behind the piece was before I painted it, the image only existed in my mind. I needed to do that work so that everyone could see what I see. I had to make the invisible, visible. In Romans 4:17 it says of God, He is, “the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not.” All of creation came from His imagination, but what’s really cool is that He uses in in the same way. He lays on our hearts dreams and puts visions in our minds and allows us to participate in His creative process. He gives us dreams and allows us to do the work of bringing them to reality for all the world to see.
Our lives are best lived at the sweet spot where our faith, dreams, passions and concerns and our gifts and talents meet. If you’re seeking your divine purpose, there’s a pretty good chance you’ll find it at that crossroads.
Your mission is like a painting, take the invisible and make it visible. Create your dream for the world to see.
There once was an old patron of the arts who was leaving town for a while, so he gathered his little colony of artists together for a going away party. To one artist he gave five talents, to another he issued two talents, and to yet another he entrusted one talent. After they drove their benefactor to the airport, the artists all went their separate ways (as artists often do) Several months later, the old patron returned, all rested and suntanned. The artist who was given five talents eagerly met him at the gate. “Master, you entrusted me with five talents and look, I’ve gained five more talents,” he enthused.
“Well done,” said the patron. “I am full of joy. You were faithful and I will give you even more.”
The artist who was given two talents ran down the concourse shouting, “Master, you entrusted me with two talents, and look, I’ve gained two more talents.”
“Well done,” said the old man. “I am full of overjoyed. You were faithful and I will give you even more.”
The artist who was given one talent was waiting by the baggage claim. “Master,” he sheepishly started, “I didn’t want you to get mad at me. I’m pretty sensitive, you know, and I don’t handle rejection very well, and it’s so had being an artist in this cold, cruel world. I wasn’t really good enough to make it big-time, because you only gave me one talent, so I didn’t do anything with my talent. I hid it. Here, you can have it back.” The artist opened his hand and looked straight down at his shoes. The talent was as new and undeveloped as the day he got it.
The old man was silent. The he responded in a soft voice, “My dear friend, you have squandered a fortune. I gave you something that was meant to be used. The issue was not how much I gave but what you did with what you had.”
The previous story is Rory Noland’s adaptation of the parable of the talents (Matthew 25) from his book, Heart of the Artist. When I read this, I knew I had to share it because it speaks to something I have noticed in many people, especially creatives. There is a very real temptation in us to compare ourselves with others, find ourselves lacking and give up. If we can’t be the best in the world, we don’t want to do anything. This is crazy. First of all there can only be one person who is best in the world at any given thing. Should the rest of us just give up? NO! Well, maybe, okay, yes, there is something we all need to give up. We need to give up comparing and start being faithful with what is in our hands. The very valuable gifts and talents God has given us. There are His tools for building His Kingdom and He has placed them in our hands. He’s not asking you to be the best in the world. He’s asking you to do the best you can.
At the end of the day, there is one thing that each of us can be the best in the world at being. It’s you. Think about it. You are a one of a kind masterpiece created by the greatest artist there has ever been, God Himself. Be the best you you can be in Him. Create what He has given you to create and give it your best, then put it out there for the world to see. No doubt someone will think your work is not that great. Go to any art museum in the world and you will see work that you don’t particularly like. Just remember, it’s still in the museum. It is there because someone thought it was beautiful, or important, or meaningful. It’s the same with your work. Some people will probably hate it. Ignore them. You are creating first for God and secondly for the people who will be touched by what you do. Those people will love you and your work and by the way they are worthy of your very best.
God has invested at least one extremely valuable talent in you.
Don’t squander your fortune!
I know this is a drum I beat a lot, and I pray you’re not sick of hearing it, but I feel like I have to express it. I’m doing a series of revival meetings this week and as usual they center around using our gift to spread the Gospel, practicing what I preach by using mine. The church is wonderful, the people are wonderful and I feel the Spirit of God moving as I share from my heart. This is my passion, my calling and I love what I get to do.
The one thing I really want to be sure to express though is I am not trying to make the people I speak to into artists. If they’re already artists and I can inspire them to dedicate that gift to the Lord, great, but I’m not trying to make them artists. Instead I am trying to get them to look at why they have been gifted to do and find a way to use it to serve God. So in a sense, while I am not trying to make them artists, I am asking them to be creative. I believe we a children of the ultimate Creator, we all have creativity and it is imperative that we put that creativity into the hands of God and put it to use. We are on a mission and that mission is urgent.
Here’s why: When I first started as an artist, I would create a work of art, copy it and send it out to 10-100 companies, depending on the creation. I would then run to my mailbox every day to see what would come of my efforts. Usually this would amount to a string of rejection letters. The more letters, the harder it was to start the next project. There was nothing else I could do. Working as an artist, getting my work to the masses depended on my ability to get past the gatekeepers and get a deal and a contract. Most of the time it was really disheartening. I don’t do that anymore.
Now I have the internet. I can have all the distribution I can handle and share my work with the masses. I can have my own publishing company with the largest retailer in the world (and I do). I can create a piece of art and have prints for sale in minutes (I have that). I can design and sell T-shirts with my art on it all over the world (I have that too). I can even have my own broadcast channel (ditto). I even have a communication channel where I can share my thoughts with people all over the world (you’re reading that right now). I can do all of that stuff and I do without ever once facing a gatekeeper to tell me I’m not good enough. Most of it costs me NOTHING but time. It’s amazing but there is a catch. Everyone else can do it to. Where before my message had to compete with hundreds or thousands, now I compete literally with billions for the attentions of an already media saturated world. To make a message stand out in that playing field demands creativity.
Friends, the Gospel is just one of those messages. We know it is the most important message, the greatest story ever told. We know it is anointed by the power of God, it also faces more opposition than most of the messages out there from a power whose sole purpose is to resist the Gospel and the salvation is brings. Church, we are up against tremendous odds, admittedly backed by a greater power, but I believe this is God’s mission for our time. I believe this is why He is raising up creatives in the church to find new and powerful ways to take the unchanging message of the Gospel to an ever changing world. If you are a creative in the church. I believe this is your time, our time.
Creatively taking the message of the Gospel to an ever changing world is our mission.
Do you choose to accept it?
Stay tuned!
As most of you can imagine, I love to paint, but right now I am working on something I don’t particularly enjoy. If you’ve ever looked at my paintings you may have noticed they’re almost entirely devoid of lettering. The reason for this is simple. I’m not very good at it. It started in elementary school when I pulled A’s and B’s in all subjects but one, penmanship. My handwriting is barely legible and beyond my signature, cursive is pretty much non existent. (That last part has become much more pronounced with the advent of the computer). I’m just not a great letterer. The staccato strokes of oil and acrylic painting suit me better, my hand is just not that steady to drag those beautiful flowing lines associated with lettering. To be honest, for the most part, I avoid lettering like the plague.
So why do I currently have 40 sign boards in my studio waiting to be lettered? Because you can’t always do what you want. You see my church has an awesome outreach every year on 4th of July and they need signs and those signs needed to be painted by someone, so I volunteered. Lettering is not my strong suit, and I can’t do it as beautifully as I would like to, but I do have the ability to do it, so while the signs won’t be immaculate, I can give my best to the work at hand. That is what I will do. Now if a professional letterer were to walk into the church and volunteer, I would gladly abdicate, but for now, I’m the guy.
Sometimes life is like this. We end up working in an area that is not our strongest suit simply because something needs to be done. If you find yourself in that place, seek out the more gifted and talented, but if you don’t find anyone, give it your all and give God your best.
You can’t always do what you want, but you can serve God by doing what needs to be done, the best that you can.
The Little Drummer Boy!
Now I know what you may be thinking, that song is so unbiblical. There was no Little Drummer Boy. Or you might be thinking only a percussionist would think a drum solo was an appropriate gift for a baby and if you think those things, you’re right on all counts. But Jesus isn’t a baby anymore and now it’s entirely appropriate.
Think about what the drummer boy says in the song. Essentially, I don’t have a gift worthy of a king, but I can play my drum for Him. He doesn’t stick with the excuse that he doesn’t have enough, He looks at what he has been given and does that for Jesus.
I’ll play my drum for Him. I’ll play my best for Him.
That’s pretty much the philosophy of AMOK. Take what you’ve been given, give it your best and give it to God. If you play a drum, play it for God’s glory. If you paint pictures or write stories or whatever else you do, do it to the glory of God.
Each one should use whatever gifts He has received to serve others… 1 Peter 4:10.
What is the gift you bring, to set before the King?
Pa Rap Pa Pum Pum
AMOKArts 