Glorifying the Artist of All Artists
Perfection can't be achieved when striving for it as an end, but we are called to be perfect through living for Jesus. How can using our creative gifts for His glory make us more like Mary?
Recently, my friend questioned if Mary knew she was perfect. That’s a good question, but to answer it we first have to look the concept of perfectionism, which is an idol in and of itself honestly. There is something about the goal of perfection in our society that is just missing the mark. Perfect holiness comes from conforming our will to God’s, with Him as the end goal. I don’t think perfection can be achieved when striving for it as an end. It is good to strive to be better, but is it for anything, or is it in vain? It seems to be instilled in our minds that in order to do something, we must be great or it’s not worth our time, but this just isn’t true.
So, I hate it when people say they are not creative. Being creative is part of being human. It’s part of our nature. And I know creativity doesn’t manifest itself in everyone the same, but people are more creative than they realize. For me, my creativity manifests itself in the form of art. I’ve grown up being cheered on to use my imagination as life continually presents me with the increasing freedom to explore new mediums. And what I’ve realized is the more often I use my imagination, the more imagination I have to use. I thought I might run out eventually and thought I should use it sparingly, but it always builds off of itself as I create more. My gift is good, and all good things come from God since He is goodness itself.
God never gives us gifts to use just for our own benefit and glory, though. Any talent in our lives can be used to bring ourselves and others closer to God, so I love to worship through making art. It’s crazy because I am praying to the one who made every single one of the greatest artists of the earth. And even more mind blowing, is that through that worship, I am connected to THE artist of all artists. The guy with the most expansive types of art who came up with everything from designing the mountains, arranging the planets, and painting the sky. We get to directly be with Him while creating. And there’s power in that. As the artists of all artists, God delights in us using our creativity for his glory and lets us draw closer to Him through it. When Mary allowed God to work through her and in her with Jesus being conceived in her womb, she participated in this creativity.
The coolest thing is God never said you have to be perfect to be loved by Him, so your art doesn’t have to be perfect for Him to take delight in it. There isn’t a morally set formula for art anyways, and God will be thrilled your actions are for His glory. We can really take this attitude into any area of life. When we strive to do all things as worship, the idol of perfection rips away and is replaced by striving to be a living sacrifice. Like the Bible says in 1 Peter 4:10, “As each one has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God’s varied grace.” Whether your gift of creativity lies in engineering, nursing, athletics, etc., God wants to have it all. Offer your work as a living sacrifice, for our accomplishments do not impress God, but the way our hearts live for Him does. Everyone’s gift is part of the whole, and therefore important - and everyone has a gift from God to offer.
I think that when our focus shifts from the idol of perfectionism to glorification, then we truly start to carry out God’s will for our lives. Through this, we can “Be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect,” so we can live freely and not for paralyzing perfectionism (Matthew 5:48). He will lead our hearts to His plan that works out for good. Let’s let everything point to Him because there’s just something about worshipping God with the talents He has given you. To give back and use for His glory your strengths that are from Him is so honorable in His eyes. And at the end of the day, our gifts are not of us and were of Him all along. So, no, I don’t think Mary knew she was perfect, for perfect holiness comes with perfect humility. So, I think we should all strive to use our strengths creativity, for the glory of Jesus Christ as the end goal, becoming more like Mary every day.
