I was raised in a home full of appreciation for music and art of all types and consistently find myself gravitating towards creative environments. This has greatly fueled my desire to pursue artistic hobbies, passionate worship, and a career in music, but ultimately ask many questions about how I can best represent God through how I creatively express myself. The simplest boil down to,

Who is God? Who are we? and What is our role in life?

These may seem rather generic, but I am confident that as we go deeper and unpack the answers, we will discover the authentic creativity God has set apart for each of one of us.

Who is God?

He is our Good Father, Savior, I AM, Messiah, Yahweh, Lord, the Word…just to name a few…but when I really get down to the core of the Bible and look at what God has always done and is constantly doing, I find that He is creating.

He is THE Creator. No other concept about life or the other aspects of how we perceive Him would exist if He did not begin as being a creator. We would not be asking this question if we were not first created by someone. You know, first impressions say a lot about someone: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Genesis 1:1

So, who are we?

We are sons and daughters, heirs of God and heirs with Christ, saints, friends of God, new creations, no longer of the flesh but of the Spirit…but before all of that we first had to be creation.

We are a product of the Creator and made in His image. “So God created mankind in His own image, in the image of God He created them; male and female He created them.” Genesis 1:27 (Quick tip: If God repeats something 3 times he usually wants you to focus on what he is saying)

Follow me on this seemingly simple train of thought because what I am really trying to get at is our role and action in this identity.

Our ultimate mission in life is to represent God in all things to the rest of the world.

“Therefore be imitators of God…” Ephesians 5:1

“Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.” 1 John 2:6

We are CHRISTians. We are wearing His name. When we put on that badge, we then have responsibility to look at every area of our lives and make sure it reflects Him well.

This applies to the way you take care of your body, the way you manage your finances, the words you speak, the way you take care of the car he has given you, and yes, the way you react to unideal circumstances.

Are you living with excellence in every area? The world is looking at all of those details whether you realize it or not. They are not going to want what you have unless you display that you have something worth having.

So now that we understand all of that, here’s the bottom line:

Because we are CREATIVE beings made in the image of a CREATOR, our lives are called to look boldly creative to the rest of the world.  

If people who do not know God see that we have just as much fear, anxiety and lack of hope in tough situations as the unbeliever next to us, they are not going to want our Jesus. In the same light, if they look at our creative nature and are not any more inspired than by what they see in the rest of the world, they are not going to want our Jesus.

My hope here is that we understand that our intentionality in authentic creativity holds just as much weight, if not more, as any other aspect of our mission in life.

So what does authentic creativity look like?

Creating by definition is “To bring into existence.” You cannot bring into existence something that has already been done. That is called replication. When God creates something, He does a new thing, and so should we.

Now hear me out…I am not saying that we do not take inspiration from other sources…actually it is quite the opposite. I believe that when we examine and appreciate as many sources as possible, we expand our color palette and actually begin to find what is unique to us. If we only take inspiration from one or two places, we will be more apt to act, and sound, exactly like those sources and ultimately limit ourselves.

Inspirational people do things different and are not afraid to be themselves.

Jesus was pretty good at that. He wants us to live in our own lane. Not comparing ourselves to others, but receiving vision from Him to go where He sends us and do what He has called us to do.

We are prophetic beings and have the power to pull in creativity from the future. 1 Corinthians 2:16 says you have the mind of Christ. The mind of the Alpha and the Omega. His thoughts, ideas, and creativity have no end. This alone gives us a massive one-up on everyone else as we have limitless inspiration the world has never seen before. You have access to the kingdom realm that is full of creativity to inspire the rest of the world.

If you are serving on your worship team, maybe all of this looks like trusting what you are hearing and singing the prophetic song God has given you…maybe it looks like trying a different band setup…maybe it looks exploring sounds outside of dotted 8th delays, and long modulated reverbs…maybe it looks like praying for the people in your church as you are on stage.

God usually shows up in the most powerful ways when I step out of my comfort zone and explore new territory. We can do this in our worship on stage and off stage.

Authentic creativity can be applied anywhere and it is simply a matter of being honest to who God has created you to be. It challenges the tendency to default to what is comfortable.

You are an incredible creative being. There has never been anyone like you. God wants to give you access to His palette of colors to paint a life no one has seen yet.

You may also be interested in these posts as well:

• How to Become a Touring Musician
• I’m a Worship Leader But Why?
• Performance VS. Worship
• 3 Ways the Enemy Attacks Worship Leaders: And What You Can Do About It