Created to be Creative?
“Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field.”
When I was picking a college major, I thought about going into something creative. I was lousy at “art,” but I loved drama, communication, writing. In the end, I just couldn’t bring myself to go that way. None of those majors would have been “practical.” After all, creativity and art are fine, fun, interesting to study -- but they’re not essential. Right? I mean, the important things in life are to first, obey God, and second, do something practical to pay the bills.Yeah? And how many people really make a living being creative? So I majored in business and studied psychology.
That turned out fine. Better, maybe, than if I’d studied English or drama or art history. But I was wrong on all counts. Not only did I end up making a career out of “being creative,” I eventually got that we’re all built to be creators, no matter our majors or work in life. A few verses before the passage you see at the top of this page, we’re told, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”
The logic is all right there in black-and-white. God created the universe and everything in it. We’re told in several New Testament passages that Jesus was actively involved in creating everything that is, including us. So it just makes sense that people created in the image of a Creator God would be creative people. And not just “creative,” as in good at crafts, but designed to create. We’re intended to imitate God by creating things. (Just for the record: Not saying we’re created to be little gods, but little creators in the mold of the ultimate Creator.)
Look at Adam’s first real task in the garden -- before sin, before the fall, before death -- God gives Adam a writing assignment. I know my science friends would prefer to think of it as a biology assignment, but I like to call it creative writing. We have no idea what Adam named all of the animals. But he did it all on his own. His job was to create names for God’s creation.
Notice something else. God really dug it. God brought the animals to Adam to “see what he would name them.” God seems to have enjoyed watching Adam express his God-given creativity in his work. There’s no hint here that God secretly planted all the animal names in Adam’s mind and then waited for Adam to spit out the inevitable result. No, we’re told that whatever Adam came up with, “that was the name.” God allowed Adam the authority to fulfill his destiny as a creative person.
Yes, as with everything else, sin corrupted the creative process. After the fall, humans learned to express our total depravity in very creative ways. We applied our imaginations to dreaming up new ways to do evil. Or as Genesis 6:5 puts it, “Every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.”
But God hasn’t revoked our creative licenses. Along with the rest of our true selves, He is in the process of redeeming His children’s impulse to artfully create beauty and solve problems using the imagination He installed in the original human operating system. In fact, when instructing the Israelites how to properly worship Him, He commanded that whole family groups be assigned full-time as musicians, artisans, and skilled craftsmen in the service of God’s temple. Creative jobs all. David and Solomon command respect for their poetry and writing skills. And Jesus Himself packaged great truths as parables, stories, fiction, creative writing.
No, I’m not suggesting we should all be art and English majors. Most of us aren’t built for that specific creative outlet. But I am saying we should all try on our Father’s shoes: “Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children.” (Ephesians 5:1) We should all explore the ways that we can use our imaginations to create something, to solve some problem, to express some old idea in a way that’s brand new in our generation.
Even if you’re a business major.
--Genesis 2:19-20
When I was picking a college major, I thought about going into something creative. I was lousy at “art,” but I loved drama, communication, writing. In the end, I just couldn’t bring myself to go that way. None of those majors would have been “practical.” After all, creativity and art are fine, fun, interesting to study -- but they’re not essential. Right? I mean, the important things in life are to first, obey God, and second, do something practical to pay the bills.Yeah? And how many people really make a living being creative? So I majored in business and studied psychology.
That turned out fine. Better, maybe, than if I’d studied English or drama or art history. But I was wrong on all counts. Not only did I end up making a career out of “being creative,” I eventually got that we’re all built to be creators, no matter our majors or work in life. A few verses before the passage you see at the top of this page, we’re told, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”
The logic is all right there in black-and-white. God created the universe and everything in it. We’re told in several New Testament passages that Jesus was actively involved in creating everything that is, including us. So it just makes sense that people created in the image of a Creator God would be creative people. And not just “creative,” as in good at crafts, but designed to create. We’re intended to imitate God by creating things. (Just for the record: Not saying we’re created to be little gods, but little creators in the mold of the ultimate Creator.)
Look at Adam’s first real task in the garden -- before sin, before the fall, before death -- God gives Adam a writing assignment. I know my science friends would prefer to think of it as a biology assignment, but I like to call it creative writing. We have no idea what Adam named all of the animals. But he did it all on his own. His job was to create names for God’s creation.
Notice something else. God really dug it. God brought the animals to Adam to “see what he would name them.” God seems to have enjoyed watching Adam express his God-given creativity in his work. There’s no hint here that God secretly planted all the animal names in Adam’s mind and then waited for Adam to spit out the inevitable result. No, we’re told that whatever Adam came up with, “that was the name.” God allowed Adam the authority to fulfill his destiny as a creative person.
Yes, as with everything else, sin corrupted the creative process. After the fall, humans learned to express our total depravity in very creative ways. We applied our imaginations to dreaming up new ways to do evil. Or as Genesis 6:5 puts it, “Every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.”
But God hasn’t revoked our creative licenses. Along with the rest of our true selves, He is in the process of redeeming His children’s impulse to artfully create beauty and solve problems using the imagination He installed in the original human operating system. In fact, when instructing the Israelites how to properly worship Him, He commanded that whole family groups be assigned full-time as musicians, artisans, and skilled craftsmen in the service of God’s temple. Creative jobs all. David and Solomon command respect for their poetry and writing skills. And Jesus Himself packaged great truths as parables, stories, fiction, creative writing.
No, I’m not suggesting we should all be art and English majors. Most of us aren’t built for that specific creative outlet. But I am saying we should all try on our Father’s shoes: “Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children.” (Ephesians 5:1) We should all explore the ways that we can use our imaginations to create something, to solve some problem, to express some old idea in a way that’s brand new in our generation.
Even if you’re a business major.
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