The Thriving Christian Artist
The Thriving Christian Artist
Why Simply Creating Is Enough
Have you ever thought about the deeper purpose behind your art? This week on the Thriving Christian Artist podcast, I explore the profound intersection of creativity and spirituality inspired by a question from a student grappling with finding meaning in their artistic journey. Drawing from my 30-plus years of crafting baskets from natural materials, I share how the simple act of creating can be a form of glorifying God. Join me, Matt Tommey, as we reflect on the role and process of prophetic art and the transformative power of engaging the Holy Spirit in the creative process, which can unveil unexpected beauty and divine communication, even beyond our original intentions.
You'll hear how God uses our creative endeavors to shape us and reveal His nature through our work. Whether you're a painter, writer, musician, or fiber artist, I invite you to see the creative process as a journey of learning and transformation. Together, we'll embrace the mystery and beauty of being artists, understanding that our work not only reflects what God is doing within us but also touches others in unforeseen ways. With inspiration from Ecclesiastes, we remind ourselves that God makes everything beautiful in His time, encouraging you to trust that your art is a part of that divine timing.
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Welcome to the Thriving Christian Artist, the podcast, where we hope you connect with God to bust through the roadblocks that have held you back for years, create the work you love and really live the life you know. God created you to live as an artist in His kingdom. I'm Matt Tama, your host. Let's get started. Well, hey, my friend, super glad that you are here on the podcast with me today. I had a great question this week from a student of mine who was struggling with this whole idea of trying to find a deeper purpose and meaning for their life. Well, wrestled with that over the years, especially with the rise of what many people would call prophetic art and learning to engage the Holy Spirit in the creative process, you can really feel like, well, gosh, I should have this big spiritual meaning, this deeper purpose, you know, for my life. And you know if you don't have that or don't feel like you're walking in that, sometimes you can kind of feel like, well, gosh, why am I missing it? Or why isn't God speaking to me about that? But I want to really kind of bring you a different sort of perspective today and really introduce you to this idea that simply creating is to glorify God. There's nothing else that you have to do in your creative process other than to do the thing that he has created you to do. You know, for me this kind of came the long way around, I guess, when I started creating years ago in fact, I've been gosh now, it seems funny to say but over, I think, 31, 32 years now I've been making baskets and creating from natural materials and that sort of thing. I had no clue that God had any purpose for that creativity in my life, much less wanted to use it to form and make me into his image, or to speak through my creative process, or to be able to speak, you know, to others, uh, through that. I just did it because I loved it. I'm sure you can probably, you know, think of that as well.
Speaker 1:Just by whatever you're doing, whether it's fiber art or, uh, painting or music or writing or or whatever it is you know, most of us start in that place of just pure enjoyment just because we love to do it. I can, I can remember for years, and even today, uh, I get such a charge of just going in the woods and finding really cool materials and dragging them back to the truck, the SUV, the whatever, bringing them to the studio and working with them and getting my hands dirty and being inspired by how nature is working together, the different colors and textures and relationships in nature. I love all of that and people are able to see that and feel that in my work, regardless of their spirituality, relationship or non-relationship with the Lord. That joy of connecting for me artistically comes through my work and for me, now that I really know how God uses art and how God uses the creative process and the life of an artist, I think that it's it's such a beautiful mystery and reality to embrace that God works through our creative process, not only to to make you know, as we make art, that that touches other people, but it really is to touch me. It's it's in that creative process that I learn about him. I learned who I am. I learned how materials are formed and shaped and I learned how things work together. I learned how beauty is process, making is a process, this process of preparation and refinement and struggle and then ultimately, you know work being created. All of this is God is using in this process to shape me, but he's also using that process to speak to others and I think most of the time.
Speaker 1:If I'm honest, it's way beyond and even in spite of any creative intention that I might have, I love the scripture in Ecclesiastes. It talks about, you know, god's God makes everything beautiful in his time, and sometimes when I'm making something, I'm just making it because I love it and I'll put it out there at a show, at a gallery, online or whatever, and somebody will see something completely different than what I ever intended or not intended to to have be the purpose of, of this work. And that mystery, happens to me, is the beauty of being an artist, because the work that we create not only reflects what God's doing in us and in our heart, but it reflects the beauty of His nature. It reflects our eternal connection with Him, the promise of a new reality that is both here in the kingdom of God and is both on the way in the kingdom of God and in its fullness. I love that God is using all these things together for good.
Speaker 1:You know, for me, rather than trying to put this heavy sort of big spiritual why on my work and to approach it with all of this need for my work to speak and it's got to say this and it's got to have a prophetic meaning it's got to do all those kinds of stuff. I really have kind of set all that to the side in my creative process and you may go, really, yes, I have, because I've realized over the years now, get this. I really believe that God cares more that we create than what we create. We create than what we create. What does that mean? That means that when you and I are invested in the process of being an artist, of digging up inspiration, of preparing materials, of being in this process of making and refining and creating, of showing up in the studio every day, of listening to his voice, of following inspiration, of allowing all those things to blossom in our work, there is no greater way to glorify God than for us to do the thing that he has created us to do.
Speaker 1:You know, I'm reminded of John 15 and the whole you know parable that Jesus teaches about the I'm the vine, you're the branches. Apart from me, you can do nothing. Most of us, when we come to the Christian walk, we're taught this sort of striving relationship you got to be fruitful, you got to do things for the Lord kind of this worker bee mentality. But in this story I love it because the only thing that the branch has to do in relationship to being fruitful is what? Push harder? No. Try harder no, come up with all the ways that the fruit's going to be produced no, you know what the branch has got to do Hang on. Hang on and cooperate. In other words, stay in intimate relationship with the vine, receive everything that the vine has to give it, stay in connection, stay in cooperation and guess what? Through that, fruit is produced. My friend, this may be a newsflash for you, but your art, the way God designed it, is designed to be fruit. You and I are designed as different kinds of branches. I'm a branch that produces baskets. I'm a branch that produces baskets. You're a branch that produces paintings. Somebody else might be a branch that produces poetry or music or whatever.
Speaker 1:The fruit of our life is not determined by how hard we try, is determined by how well we stay connected. Woo, come on somebody. In fact, colossians 3.23, saysians 3, 23 says what whatever you do, whatever you do, work at it with your whole heart, with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters. In other words, don't be trying to get out there and do all this stuff for God. Make an impact in the world, change all this? No, listen, I know that goes against maybe a lot of things that everybody's saying these days about make an impact and make a big, big splash in the world and all this kind of stuff.
Speaker 1:You know what God calls us to do Be faithful, stay connected, be intimate with him, do the thing that he's called us to do, and when we do that we can realize that God is producing the fruit through us. We can realize that creating is enough, because God created us to create and to live out of that design glorifies him. To live out of that place of purpose that God gave us is the way that we glorify God. I remember, in the introduction or the forward to my first book Unlocking the Heart, of the Artist Ray Hughes wrote this he said we were created by the creator to create and listen. I can't imagine any other better way for us to glorify God in our lives than to create, than to do the thing that he has created us to do, and trust that the fruit and the fulfillment that we're so wanting to see in our life is not a result of us trying harder, but it's a result of our faithfulness, it's a result of staying connected to him. It's a result of showing up faithfully in the studio, being filled and skilled, enlarging our capacity to him, learning to walk and be led by the nudges of the Spirit, by the moving of the Holy Spirit inside of us, by his voice, by his word, that relationship of just like Jesus, just doing the things that we see the Father doing as artists. Listen, there's no better way to glorify God than to do that. God created us to create as artists and that is enough.
Speaker 1:My friend, I hope you will take this to heart and any other sort of why or you know, desire to have this big, deep spiritual meaning and big impact and all this kind of stuff. I hope that you will lay all that to the side, take it with a grain of salt and realize, hey, it's enough for me to just be who God's called me to be, to do what God's called me to do. I love that scripture. It's just coming to me right now In 1 Thessalonians. It says you know, it's Paul essentially talking, and he says hey, this is the way to live a great life, live a quiet life, work with your hands and mind your own business. I love that. I love that.
Speaker 1:I just want to live a quiet life connected to God, trust that, as I work with my hands and mind my own business, he's the one that's going to produce fruit out of my life, fruit that will remain, fruit that will not only transform me in the process, but fruit that he'll use for his glory and for his purposes far beyond anything else that I could ask or imagine. Listen, my friend, this is a joy to be on this journey with you, and I hope that you'll take the freedom that I'm hoping to share this with today and just rub it in your heart and say thank you, jesus, that you've created me to create and to do that is enough. There's nothing else that I need to be doing. I could just trust you for the impact, whatever that looks like, whether it's for monetary purposes, to make a living, whether it's for ministry, whether it's for your own meditative and spiritual processing purposes, whatever it is, when you do that thing unto the Lord, god's going to use it and produce fruit and fulfillment through your life. I love you, my friend.
Speaker 1:Thanks again for joining me here on the podcast. I hope that you'll rub this in and start walking in it today and remember until next time. You were created to thrive. Bye, hey. Thanks so much for spending a few minutes with me today on the podcast Listen. I hope it's been a huge encouragement to you on your journey as an artist. Hey, also, before you leave, make sure to hit the subscribe button so you don't miss any of the other episodes of the Thriving Christian Artist podcast, and also be sure to connect with me on Facebook, instagram or at my website, which is matttommymentoringcom. Until next time, remember, you were created to thrive. Bye-bye, thank you.