The subject of transforming the world has been on my heart a lot lately. Particularly in the area of art. Being both an artist, and definitely possessing an artistic personality AND being a Christian raised in a very traditional culture can be difficult. Often, I would find books and/or music that just spoke to me in that uniquely spiritual way that can only be achieved by the Holy Spirit, only to have that condemned because I found the book at the library, and it had no visible references to Jesus in it. So I would try and go back to only Christian art for awhile, but let's face it, that can only tide a person over for so long before you get bored. Particularly if you're a stickler for the quality. This is not to say that there isn't good Christian art around. More like, it's thin on the ground sometimes, where in more artistic cultures outside of "Christendom" you can't turn around without running into another brilliant artist. Most artists you run into will tell you the same thing.
I should stop that train of thought now, because this isn't supposed to be a rant about the quality of Christian art - or lack of it. I mostly point it out to lead to my actual point: How to make it better. There is a theme in my life right now, and in the church that I attend. It is that this whole thing where Christians are looked down upon, or outright mocked (as often by other Christians as by the rest of the world) for our substandard creative work is just wrong. So wrong. Like, there are hardly even words to describe how messed up this is. Why, you ask? I'll tell you. As Christians, we have a direct connection, an intimate personal relationship with the Creator of the whole WORLD. Everything that we see, everything that we draw our inspiration from, He created. And we get to have conversations with Him all the time. Every day. We have full access to all that creative brilliance that He embodies. He lets us use it, and with it we have the capability of creating art that is not only spiritually significant, but is critically GOOD. Not just good, but awesome, amazing, brilliant, fantastic, inspired, and any other cool synonym you can think of.
Now the question is HOW? How do we put this awesome capability into action? This is a question I've been asking myself for awhile, once I realized that JUST working to develop my craft in traditional ways wasn't enough. Thankfully, that changed over the weekend when I went to a conference at my church, specifically for artists. The whole day was transcendent, and it was so timely. I finally got answers to a lot of the outstanding questions I'd had about this area of my life. Those revelations are mostly what the rest of the post will be about. Because I think they're crazy awesome, and I'm beyond thankful that I was able to go and absorb all this wisdom from a ton of seriously anointed people.
It's funny, because I had this art teacher in 6th and 7th grade, who taught us to always ask God what He wanted us to create before we started on anything. Funny because at the time I thought she was absolutely insane. I had no way to quantify the idea of God actually speaking into my life, and art at that time. Now though, I realize that this was possibly the best thing anyone ever taught me in school. One of the speakers, Jennifer Eivaz taught on how being in the presence of God is the best way to make your mind Christ-like. This seems like it should be a no-brainer, but it is so difficult to remember sometimes. Romans 12:2 says, "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is-his good, pleasing and perfect will." The passage goes on to list some gifts of the Spirit, and then onto a discourse on loving your brothers and sisters in Christ (my other favorite topic. This is why I love Romans). But this verse is so overused, and so misused sometimes. It becomes an excuse for Christians to hide away. The problem is, that is not what the verse is saying at all. It is saying that as a part of your spiritual act of worship (which is offering your whole self to Christ as a living sacrifice, per verse 1) you are pretty much incapable of being conformed to the world. If your whole self is determined in and through Christ, there's no way you're going to conform to the world. Just isn't going to happen. Instead, your mind get's transformed which is what Jennifer was talking about. Your mind is the source of everything. It's where all your actions are determined, where all your thoughts about yourself reside. If your mind is out of sync, everything is out of sync. That's why the majority of attacks from people are mental. If you can undermine an enemy's thoughts, that's the best way to destroy everything they could do to resist you. So Paul instructs us to give our whole selves to Christ, and let Him transform our minds. So that we can resist the attacks that would undermine us and trample our enemies instead of the other way around.
What does this have to do with art? Simple. Art, in particular, is based in the mind. One of the other things that I learned from the conference was that the act of creating is primarily about bringing the unseen into the seen. That's what God did when He created the world. That's what he does when He creates every human being. But to bring the unseen into the scene, our mind has to be transformed enough to see the unseen clearly. Also, we have to be utterly confident in our ability to communicate it, and to do that we need to have a clear view of our own identity in Christ. Which goes back to the transforming of the mind.
Furthermore, if we are creating from a place of true identity in Christ, and confidence not in our own abilities by their own, but in His ability to use them to His glory, we can create things that are drenched in so much favor that it's almost impossible for them to not be successful. This is the revolutionary part. It doesn't matter what your medi genre it is, whether it's Christian in topic or not, it will be a vehicle to establish God's glory on this earth. This is the part I'm still working on. The transforming of the mind is a simple process, but difficult. It requires us to actually put the effort in, to work with God on this. But He's loving and infinitely patient, so we can always get there. And when we do, imagine what could happen.
Imagine a world where Christians don't imitate the art of the world (which is, in and of itself an imitation of the purest form of creation which is of God). Imagine a world where we set the trends in the art culture. We bring in the sound that defines a generation. We create paintings that people can't help but buy. We write the books that touch millions of people. Where we use all of these things to redeem that which the Enemy has twisted. That's what my goal is. To write books that aren't "Christian," just God-breathed. To write something that will be the defining experience for a young generation of readers, like the books I read when I was in Jr. High and High School, which still govern much of how I view the world. This is what I plan on working towards while I'm in between schooling. Or while I'm at school. Pretty much all the time. Spending time with Jesus. Letting Him transform my mind. Letting that flow through my fingers onto a page.
I can't think of a better way to end this than a song that's been rocking my world for the past month or so.
"Bless the Lord, O my soul. O my soul. Worship His holy name. Sing like never before, o my soul. I'll worship Your holy name. (v.2) You're rich in love, and You're slow to anger. Your name is great, and Your heart is kind. For all Your goodness, I will keep on singing. Ten thousand reasons for my heart to find!"
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