The Gift of Creativity

CONFESSION #3: I often forget that God is the one that gave me the gift of creativity for the sole purpose of glorifying Him.

"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." Genesis 1:1. Most Americans, whether or not they've read the Bible, know this verse. It's a part of our cultural literacy, which can make it seem not as important due to familiarity. But if you really think about it, Genesis 1 is significant. 

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
The earth was without form and void, 
and darkness was over the face of the deep.
And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
And God said, "Let there be light." And there was light.

And these are just the beginning verses. Genesis 1 essentially says that God spoke the world into being. All He did was speak, and He created everything. How awesome and powerful is that? 

And then later on in Genesis, God creates man and woman.  

Then God said, "Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, 
so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, 
over the livestock and all the wild animals, 
and over all the creatures that move along the ground."
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.
Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky
and over every living creature that moves on the ground."
Genesis 1: 26-27

As human beings, we are made in the image of a creative God. He spoke the world into being. He made and created everything. If we are made in His image, we have the ability to create as well. We can't speak things into being (which would be super cool), but we can create works of art, music, buildings, babies, you name it. Ultimately, we were made to glorify God, but he gave us the gift of creativity to do just that.  

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows
James 1:17

I often forget that creativity is a gift from God. Creativity isn't something that I've just developed through osmosis. It comes from being made in the image of God, the ultimate creative being. He has made me to be creative, just like He makes others to be gifted at math (which I'm not good at), with thinking logically, or with the many other gifts He gives people. Creativity is a gift.

That perspective changes everything. It's no longer something that I can boast about by my own efforts. It's a precious gift that I am called to steward faithfully and use to glorify the God that gave it to me. 

This post is part of a 31 Day Series called Confessions of a Creative Christian.