How Can We Use All Our Creative Talents to Thank and Glorify God? Psalm 116:12-19

When in our music God is glorified,
And adoration leaves no room for pride,
It is as though the whole creation cried:
Alleluia!

How often, making music, we have found
A new dimension in the world of sound,
As worship moved us to a more profound
Alleluia!

So has the Church, in liturgy and song,
In faith and love, through centuries of wrong,
Borne witness to the truth in every tongue:
Alleluia!

And did not Jesus sing a Psalm that night
When utmost evil strove against the light?
Then let us sing, for whom he won the fight:
Alleluia!

Psalm 116:12-19 The Message

^12-19What can I give back to God
    for the blessings he’s poured out on me?
I’ll lift high the cup of salvation—a toast to God!
    I’ll pray in the name of God;
I’ll complete what I promised God I’d do,
    and I’ll do it together with his people.
When they arrive at the gates of death,
    God welcomes those who love him.
Oh, God, here I am, your servant,
    your faithful servant: set me free for your service!
I’m ready to offer the thanksgiving sacrifice
    and pray in the name of God.
I’ll complete what I promised God I’d do,
    and I’ll do it in company with his people,
In the place of worship, in God’s house,
    in Jerusalem, God’s city.
Hallelujah!

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Adeste Fideles! Laeti Triumphantes! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

What Shall I Render Unto the Lord?

The Psalmist expresses the depths of his love for the Lord because God hears and God answers unto His children when they call to Him.

In this Psalm, his song of deepest praise, the Psalmist recalls the many troubles and sorrows he has already encountered, then unleashes upon all his readership exactly how gracious and exactly how compassionate the Lord has been to him.

The Lord heard his cry for help, the Lord rescued him from death and despair.

And as the Psalmist remembers the merciful kindness and patient grace of the Lord towards him, he cries out,

“How can I repay the LORD for all the good He has done for me?

What can I give to the LORD for all he has done for me?

What shall I render to the LORD For all His benefits toward me?”

The Psalmist knows there is so much he wants to do to say “Thank You, God!”

Yet also within this psalm, the Psalmist knew, as we do, that there is nothing that we can do to exactly repay the Lord for all His grace and love towards us.

There is no amount of payment or reward that we can offer to God that could possibly pay Him back for the miraculous, wonderful things He has done for us.

There is nothing we can do, but we can surely offer Him our sacrifice of praise.

We can pour out our whole heart of gratitude to Him for our great salvation.

We can tell others, we can shout and sing to others of the wonders of His grace and mercy, and we can render unto God our hearts, to seek to do His will with a willing and obedient heart that is overflowing with love for our gracious Savior.

Oh! I wish I could influence God, but God is never influenced by man’s foolish attempts to repay Him for what He has freely given as an eternal gift of grace.

There is nothing we can do to repay the Lord for all His goodness and loving-kindness He has shown towards us, but we can live a life that is pleasing to Him by trusting His Word and seeking in all that we say and do to live a godly life.

We can render unto God our gifts and our talents, to walk in spirit and truth, submitted to the guidance and the leading of the Holy Spirit, and letting the love of Christ shine through us in thought and deed, to the glory of the Father.

We Can Use All Our Creative Talents to Glorify God

Psalm 138:4-6 The Message

^4-6When they hear what you have to say, God,
    all earth’s kings will say “Thank you.”
They’ll sing of what you’ve done:
    “How great the glory of God!”
And here’s why: God, high above, sees far below;
    no matter the distance, he knows everything about us.

It is written in the very first line of the Bible: “In the beginning God created…” (Genesis 1:1, emphasis added).

Creativity begins with God.

He had a plan and had a good design for the cosmos and spoke it into being.

We have a written account of how creation came to be, and how the very first people were made by God. God spoke, made, and revealed it all through the written word – He was behind the entire creative order that we see around us.

When we look at the intricacy of a snowflake or a leaf or a spider web, the symmetry of a butterfly, or the perfect location of the earth’s position in the rest of the solar system, we witness to all the handiwork of our Creator God.

He also planned that we would be made in His image (Genesis 1:26), so it is no surprise that we get to experience the wonder and joy of creativity ourselves.

With all of the wonders and miracles of this creative potential surrounding us every single day we live, how can we use our creative talents to glorify God?

Give All the Glory to God Alone

Whatever we do, we are to do it to the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31).

That includes our creative endeavors.

As the apostle Paul shared,

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving” (Colossians 3:23-24).

In Colossians 1:16 it says: “For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.”

It is through Jesus that everything has been made and it is all for Him (John 1:3).

God made the universe through His Son (Hebrews 1:2) and it is by faith that “we understand the universe was formed at God’s own spoken command, so what is seen was not made out of what was visible” (Hebrews 11:3).

It’s right, it’s good, it is an abundantly authentically joyful thing, to always give all of the glory to the only One who made it all, for whom it is all for.

It also fulfills the command to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength” (Luke 10:27).

What we create should not ever be worshiped, nor should we glorify ourselves or others in ours or theirs creative pursuits.

That does not mean that we do not enjoy or appreciate what we create, what they create but we remember to keep our love, affections in their rightful place.

Participate in God’s Masterpiece

We have the immense privilege of joining with God in His creative purposes for the world.

It was God’s wonderful idea to create people and to get the first man to name the livestock, the birds and the wild animals (Genesis 2:20).

God “brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name” (Genesis 2:19).

This was God’s idea to involve us, not an idea of our own making.

God made the first woman as a helper, creating her from the rib of the man, and he named her too (Genesis 2:21-23).

They would work together in the world.

God invites us to participate in His grand design on earth, and invites us into actively participating in mission and ministry for His own kingdom purposes.

We are made in His image and formed by Him, God has a plan and a purpose, establishing our steps (Proverbs 16:9).

We can use our creative talents for good or for ill, but as we look to Jesus, our desires will become more and more like His.

Using our gifts of creativity enables each of us to singularly, uniquely, express a critically important part of who God has designed us all to be (Psalm 139:13-16).

That will definitely look different for each person, as we are all individuals with unique gifts, talents and abilities, yet we are, each and every single one of us, all “fearfully and wonderfully made” shaped, by Him in His Image (Psalm 139:14).

Love Others with Our Creativity

It is important to remember the first two commandments as we create: love the Lord your God and love your neighbor as yourself.

Loving the Lord always comes first.

We need to spend time with Him regularly; it is vital to build and nurture a relationship with our Heavenly Father.

As we do this, it will transform our longings, desires to love and serve others.

God loves the people whom He created, and He designed us to be in community together.

As we create to the glory of God and out of love for Him, it will spill over into how we use our gifts, talents, time and creative resources for edifying others.

This might look like caring for those in need, volunteering our skills, designing something to the best of our ability with utmost integrity, photographing or painting beautiful landscapes to show God’s work on display, so much more.

There are endless opportunities to be creative.

The people in our homes, communities and the wider world can be unbelievably and miraculously blessed, truly uplifted, inspired by our God-given creativity.

Manage Our Creative Talents Well

We are to steward what God has given us and remember that all good gifts come from Him (James 1:17).

Even as we are diligent and disciplined with our time, resources and creative talents, we can continue to learn and develop and mature in our creativity.

As we look to Him who is the giver and provider of all we need, we worship Him alone, rather than anything that we create.

Throughout the Bible, there are examples of humans using their gifts and abilities to create things to worship other than God.

We saw it when the Israelites created a golden calf to worship (Exodus 32) and in the construction of the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-4).

In both cases, they made a god or a name for themselves, demonstrating the skill, but also the deep-rooted malignant pride too characteristic of mankind.

Even idolizing people made in the image of God lends itself to the worship of the creation rather than the Creator (Romans 1:25).

There is risk and temptation to pursue and follow created things and step into idolatry, rather than to the single minded single directed worship of our God.

Therefore, we must bring our creativity before the Lord, knowing it is Him that we are serving, and we should use our gifts and talents respectfully and wisely.

Embrace the Skills Given to Us

God gives skills to different people.

We are all given certain abilities, even if it may take us a little while to discover or develop what they are.

In the building of the Tabernacle, there were many who had different skills given to them by God which would be used to complete it:

“All who are skilled among you are to come and make everything the Lord has commanded” (Exodus 35:10).

It is a beautiful picture of some of God’s people who were “willing and whose heart moved them” and brought materials and offerings to God for this work (Exodus 35:21-22).

Men and women all participated together, and there was a fervent willingness, highly developed skill involved to make what God had commanded come to be.

Are we also willing to offer our skills in whatever way is needed for God’s glory and purpose?

God Equips Those Who He Calls

God also equips those whom He calls to a specific task.

In the building of the Tabernacle, the Lord chose Bezalel of the tribe of Judah, and filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, understanding, knowledge and all kinds of skills, to make artistic designs (Exodus:35:30-34).

He also equipped him and Oholiab of the tribe of Dan to be able to teach others. God is the one who fills us with the skills for the tasks that He has called us to.

The creative process means walking through trials and frustrations at times, but can also develop our perseverance and character.

God can use our creativity to shape and transform us into the likeness of Jesus as we seek to use our creative talents for His glory.

He is interested in our hearts.

As we create, we can ask Jesus to help us honor Him in our pursuits.

We can use our gifts and talents and our creativity to build up believers, spread the good news to those who do not know Jesus, support those in need, and use it as a way to provide an income for our families and programs of our churches.

As we surrender, yield to God, continually thinking “not my will but yours be done,” He takes our creative offering, transform it for His glory and purposes.

God saw the two loaves and five fish, and He was the One who filled the crowd.

Give Him your imagination, your creative talents, your need to express your gratitude, no matter how big or small, let Him deeply satisfy your every need.

As pastor and theologian Reverend Dr. John Piper said:

“God is most glorified in you when you are most satisfied in him.”

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

My dear loving Heavenly Father, I just want to thank You for loving me so much that You sent Your Son to die for me so that I might live with You forever. Thank You, Father, for the innumerable ways that You demonstrate Your love, protection, and provision toward me. I pray that I may have an attitude of gratitude toward You in all I say and do so that You are praised and glorified in my life. Remember all those artists, inspire their diverse creative gifts, those whom you have placed among us, for are they not, O Lord, the fellows of your inspiration? Do they not, Lord God, bring to your people great proof of your divinity and our part in it? In Jesus’ name, AMEN.

Adeste Fideles! Laeti Triumphantes! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

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Who is it who is Really and Ultimately in 100% Absolute Control of our Life? Just Exactly Whose Plan is it Anyway?

It is commonly thought among humans that if one wants to be somebody, he or she must find something of some measure of significance to accomplish. Most people will do this by looking all around the world to see who and what others most admire, then set their hearts on becoming that, or accomplishing it. The plan becomes to set into motion a carefully laid out step-by-step plan to try and achieve their desired end. The hope is that once they have achieved their victory, they will be somebody, be happy, or even earn some kind of salvation.

Even those who do not have even the minimal self-discipline and drive to go after their dreams will spend all of their waking time wishing and dreaming and planning the steps even if it takes the form of condemnation for their failures.

This is the proposed, supposed way of the world. It will lead to either achieving the goals and being left with pride, or worse, emptiness upon finding that the goal was not worthy. Alternatively, it will lead to failure, self-condemnation, feeling low and full of self-pity. Breaking the cycle, to understand that the Lord establishes his, her steps will set a person free from this self-destructive cycle.

Right from the beginning of all created things, God has always said to us, seek first the long planned for, created things of the Kingdom of God, and the Lord, who, from the beginning establishes all your steps, will add all things to you.

Proverbs 16:9 The Message

⁹We plan the way we want to live,
but only God makes us able to live it.

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

Throughout history, mankind has made their plans for what they will do each day. In the office, we start out our days with a detailed planning sheet we create for ourselves and organize our days and weeks and prioritize tasks to ensure the most important ones get done. We also make plans for holidays and vacations.

We budget our money; we set out our financial goals and make step-by-step plans with our financial planners for how we ourselves see fit to achieve them. We make, have daily planners, plans for weddings, birthdays, anniversaries, holidays and other events. Expectant parents plan and prepare for a new child. Teachers make lesson plans. The corporate owner plans for his, her business to grow and expand and become profitable. It is perpetual motion. We make plans.

There is nothing whatsoever wrong with planning. In fact, it is always a great idea to set goals and plan for their maximum success. If we did not, our lives would be a little here and a little there but mostly going nowhere fast– kind of like a balloon you completely blow up and then let go without tying a knot in it – and we’d really never accomplish much. Planning is definitely a good thing.

Our plans should always begin with prayer and seeking God’s will for our lives. If God has been included in our planning process right from the exact starting, we can be reasonably assured, those plans will have some measure of success. The only thing to remember here is that we are not the ones who get to define what that success is. Our personal vision of success will always be too limited.

We will probably let all the “bumps and the grinds, hills and valleys,” define whether or not we will even bother to continue that single-minded pursuit of what we ourselves define and measure out as the definition of our successes. We may end up quitting on ourselves, our hopes, our dreams way, way too quickly. We may not give ourselves the proper time to learn about perseverance in life. The glue in our “stick-to-itiveness ” will not be allowed to do its proper work.

It is here when we unceremoniously and regretfully, inconveniently, “forget” about God. When our planning is contrary to God’s will, we become guilty of sin.

In James 4:13-17, James wrote, “Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will travel to such and such a city and spend a year there and do business and make a profit.’ You don’t even know what tomorrow will bring — what your life will be! For you are like smoke that appears for a little while, then vanishes. Instead, you should say, ‘If the Lord will, we will live and do this or that.’ But as it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So, it is a sin for the person who knows to do what is good and doesn’t do it.”

God may still allow you and me to make our own plans without properly, prayerfully consulting with Him. He will even allow you and me to make our own plans, own our own plans when you and I do not particularly like His plans or His will and decide to do things our way anyway. But you and I can be assured regardless of what you and I plan, God will be ONLY the one finally directing each and every step you and I take. And if in our arrogance and pride we choose to do things our way, God will always bring about His divine will.

The Prophet Jonah is a very familiar example of someone who didn’t like what God was telling him to do and so he trusted in himself and made his own plans. God had wanted Jonah to go preach in Nineveh and Jonah didn’t want to go.

He got on a boat and went in the opposite direction from Nineveh. As a result, a great storm came up and everyone on the boat became afraid they would die at sea. They started throwing the cargo over to lighten the boat’s load and then Jonah told them they had to throw him overboard and the storm would stop.

The sailor’s thought Jonah was crazy, but after a while, they conceded and tossed Jonah into the storm-tossed waves. God was not only directing Jonah’s steps, but he also directed the swim path of a great fish who came along at that exact moment and swallowed Jonah up. After living three days in the belly of the fish, Jonah finally repents and finally, humbly prays to God. God then has the fish throw up Jonah and Jonah goes to Nineveh and preaches repentance.

Breaking Down the Key Parts of Proverbs 16:9

#1 “In their hearts…”
In most places where the heart is mentioned in Scripture, it is not looked upon very kindly. Jeremiah said, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it” (Jeremiah 17:9)? Mark 7:21-22 says, “For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly.” The advice of others to “Just follow your heart” may work great in the movies, but it is foolish, terrible advice for the believer.

#2 “…humans plan their course,”
It is, and always will be a good and righteous thing to plan our day to a certain extent; for example, what is for dinner tonight? When will I finish my work? But the kind of planning that is not good is the arrogant kind that desires its own way and has self-promoting expectations for how things are going to go.

This is essentially mankind significantly over-extending his own abilities, taking on God’s job. James 4:13-17 calls it “boasting about tomorrow.”

#3 “but the Lord establishes their steps.”
What is going to happen is what God wants to happen. Seek the Kingdom of God and his righteousness (Matthew 6:25-34), don’t worry for tomorrow, live in his presence right now, and watch him unfold his perfect plan before you.

This means consciously remembering God, to live according to his principles in his Word and lay down your life for him and for his Kingdom. You cannot even imagine what His control over your life has in store for those who trust in him.

In the New Testament, a group of shepherds made plans for tending their flock throughout the long cold night. But God suddenly interrupted their long night and sent angels to proclaim the birth of Jesus which brought the shepherds to worship the newborn King. Their plans were to simply care for their flock of sheep – God’s plans were “glorify the Lord,” to bring them to worship Jesus.

In Acts Chapter 3, A lame man who had been lame since birth had plans for going to the temple to beg for alms but as Peter and James saw him and listened to the leading of the Holy Spirit, Peter said to him, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ, rise up and walk.” In an instant, he was healed, and he rose up on his newly strengthened legs and went walking and leaping and praising God. The Lame Man’s plans were to get enough alms so he could eat – God’s plan was a miraculous healing.

Jeremiah 29:11 tells us that God has good plans for us – plans for our welfare and not destruction. If we truly believe this, then we should have no problems starting our planning time in prayer and seeking God’s will to be sure that the plans we make align with God’s will. If they do, then we can surrender our plans into His hands and trust that even if the path to get where we were planning looks different than how we planned it, that ultimately God will get us there, He will work all things out for our good (Romans. 8:28), and He will forever and ever be with us every single step of the way and keeping us from stumbling.

But if we try to go our own way like Jonah, we might find ourselves in some trouble just like Jonah did and then find ourselves right where God wanted us in the first place. Had Jonah simply cooperated with God’s plan in the first place, he could have saved himself three days in the belly of a fish – and if we will cooperate with God’s plans for our lives, we can save ourselves from all the unpleasant consequences that running from God brings. (Luke 15:11-32)

So go ahead and make your plans, but start every plan with prayer, seeking God’s will first. Then as you make your plans centered around His will, ask that your plans will bring Him honor and glory. If, like Joseph, the path getting to where God wants you looks different than you thought it would and includes a “pit” or “prison” along the way, remember that God is always with you and if the “palace” is God’s plan for you, you can trust Him to get you there at just the right moment so you are in position for what God wants to do in your whole life.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,