There are two kinds of people: Those that know they are creative, and those that don’t. There are no non-creative people.
“I’m definitely creative,” you might say. “I’m a writer,” or perhaps an artist. Or maybe you disagree. “Nope, not me,” you protest. “I know lots of creative people, but I’m not one of them. I can’t draw a stick-person to save my life. I don’t paint, play an instrument, sculpt, dance, or sing. Heck, I don’t even arrange flowers.”
Those terms describe the people we call Creatives—souls who’s creativity is expressed through traditional media. But I believe every Christian is creative, including you. I also believe that accepting and embracing our creative power as a creative Christian is critically important for you to live out your destiny. Did you get that?
I believe God wants to convince you that you are creative—especially if you are a Christian.
In my next five posts, I’m going to lay out a pretty strong case for my ‘creative Christian’ beliefs by exploring four powerful truths:
- Why creativity is intrinsic to your identity as a believer
- Why creativity is pivotal to your purpose in God’s kingdom
- Why creativity is a sign of life
- How the Spirit-filled life is the creative life
- Why all true virtues are creative
- And then, I’m going to unveil a simple Creativity Assessment I’ve created that will help you discover your Creative Identity so you can live it out. Sound good? For now, let’s tackle powerful truth #1:
Why creativity is intrinsic to your identity as a believer
The greatest opening line of all time reverberates powerfully in Genesis 1:1: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”
Please catch this: God was there before the beginning, and the beginning began with Him creating.
Moses then starts fleshing out some details. “The Spirit of God was hovering over the waters,” he says (1:2). The waters were a symbol of primordial chaos and nothingness in ancient cultures. And then God starts creating: Let there be light, sky, night, day, fish wriggling into every nook and cranny of the seas!
The first thing we learn about God is that He IS, and always has been. The second thing we learn about God is that He is joyously and limitlessly creative. I’m pointing this out because a little later on in this creative poem, we read:
“God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God He created them.” (1:27)
The inescapable conclusion is profound: We are created by a creative Creator, in His image—or more likely “AS His image,” Old Testament scholar Michael Heiser points out. We are creations, lesser-than and distinct from God—but we are still finite physical creative expressions of His spiritual nature.
Moses spent an entire chapter talking about how creative God is, then asserts that we are created in His image / as His imagers. Human beings are, by nature, creative like God is. A huge part of what Jesus came to accomplish was to recover and restore that which was lost—including our creative cooperation with the Holy Spirit.
Creativity is part of your identity as a believer in Jesus. You may know this already, perhaps not. But if it’s intrinsic to your identity, we need to learn more about what this means. Good thing we’ll be going on that journey in the next few posts!
Next post: Why Creativity is Pivotal to your purpose in the kingdom of God
What do you think? Do you think of yourself as a creative Christian, or not? Let’s talk! Comment below. 🙂
The world is a discouraging place, but you can become a Master Encourager who ignites an encouragement revolution!
