S)"3 You shall speak to all the skillful persons whom I have endowed with the spirit of wisdom, that they make Aaron’s garments to consecrate him, that he may minister as priest to Me."
Exodus 28:3 (NASB)
O) There's a progression here. First, creativity is God-given in the most literal sense. It's funny how a lot of people use that term, "God-given" without giving it real consideration. From that concept, there are two things that should happen.
A) Humility. The world wants us to take full credit for our own creativity, when all inspiration is truly from God. It's good to be happy with a job well-done, but not for your own sake.
B) Service. God isn't random and He doesn't do things without purpose. He gives skills and talents to be used with specific purpose. It's good that your work would please you, but you are not the target audience.
A) I feel like I'm a creative person in a few areas. The most obvious application of this verse, to me, is in my drumming. When I wasn't serving God, I was trying to use my abilities to serve myself, by making it big in a band. The music industry is very clear that if you don't believe you are the best, you don't belong. It cultivates a ruthless and unapologetic arrogance. I was hyper-critical and judgemental of every drummer I ever heard, and I hated hearing a drummer that was clearly better than me. I would pick apart every flaw I could find. It was terrible.
When God rescued me from that dysfunctional mindset, and He broke down my pride, it was so incredibly freeing! It's a joy to serve God with my drumming (playing on the worship team at church). It's a joy to see other drummers play. When they're still developing, I love to help them if I can. When they're clearly better than me, it's awesome to appreciate their talent and skill, a blessing to enjoy it (especially live!).
Pride still creeps sometimes, but it's a lot easier to squash it when I remind myself that God made me, and anything positive about me, and I belong to Him in every area of my life.
P) Father, continue to break down my pride and help me combat it proactively. Holy Spirit, help me continue developing the gifts I've been given. I want to be used by You, however You see fit, LORD. I never want my pride to get in the way. Help me explore my creativity in You, God, to be used for Your glory. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen.
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