This is the third post on creativity. In the first post I argued that God, as the Creator, desires His children to imitate Him by being creative also. In the second post I talked about four ways we can imitate God’s creativity. To be like God our creative actions should be:
- Orderly,
- Truthful,
- Honorable, and
- Pure
Today I would like to add 4 more ways to imitate God’s creativity. To be like God our creative actions should be:
- Beautiful. Ecclesiastes 3:11 tells us that God has made everything beautiful in its time. Philippians 4:8 tells us to think about things that are lovely or pleasing. God’s creation is full of beauty. Although, we could all point out things in creation that are not especially beautiful to us (spiders, for instance – I hate spiders…), all parts of God’s creation exhibit a beauty of form, structure and intricacy that is awe inspiring. We, as His children, can imitate our Father by producing art that is beautiful and pleasing.
- Excellent. All of God’s creative acts are worthy of praise. Throughout the six days of creation God declared His works as good. As children of the Creator we should also seek to ensure our creative acts are of the highest quality we are able to do. We should never be content to do a poor job. As representatives of our Father we should seek to produce art that is praiseworthy and excellent. God knows we are not perfect, so I am not advocating perfection here, but I do believe God expects us to always to our best.
- Meaningful. Both Psalm 19:1 and Romans 1:19-20 teach us that God’s creation is meaningful. It conveys truths about God’s power and nature. Art has the ability to express a message in a way this is much more powerful than words alone. Even great verbal communication is a form of art. When we produce art we should be concerned both that we have a clear message to express and that that message is one that is glorifying to God.
- Balanced. God’s creation is full of balance. Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 reminds us that there is a time for everything by giving us a list of opposites. Great art finds the right balance between opposites: light and dark, consonance and dissonance, variety and repetition. This “balance” may not be equal but will be right for the message. Certain messages in music require a lot of dissonance for example and other require more consonance. But in either case the balance between the two is carefully orchestrated to express the intended message.
I have listed eight characteristics of God creation that I believe we can all imitate in our artistic expressions. May you imitate your Heavenly Father not only by being creative, but also by imitating His creative characteristics.
Question: Am I missing any essential attribute? Do you disagree with any of my list?
by Jerry Wyrick, President of Worship Arts Conservatory
Worship Director at Crosspointe Church.