By Sharon Czerwien
Creativity for Christ!
Not to worry…I am not going to ask you to get out your acrylic paint and brushes! You have to wait towards the end, though, to find out the answer to this question:
What do floral arrangements, photography, sewing, and painting have in common!?
I enjoyed my mom’s last blog post about Bezalel and Oholiab. (You can view it by clicking here…) I really liked these two specific concepts:
1. We can grow and develop the strengths and talents that God gives us.
2. When given the opportunity to take on a new task (regarding the skills God has given or is growing in us), we can do it…with God’s strength!
It was a neat blog post, and it applied quite nicely to the topic covered in my church’s small group during the exact same week!
Our small group leader, Darrel, (and assistant Dale) discussed the importance of thinking creatively to utilize our God-given skills to help share Truth and be a blessing to those around us.
I think of Nancy from my former church. She is very skilled with floral arrangements and all things decorating! She creatively uses her skills for her church in a variety of ways. I think she would have gotten along nicely with Bezalel and Oholiab!
I think of my friend, Lindsay. She is skilled in photography. She uses that skill to help chronicle events that take place in her particular church. A lady, Kayla, does the same thing at my parents' church in Missouri.
There are ladies in our current church that do weekly sewing and knitting projects. These finished projects can then be sent to some of the ministries that our church supports.
I think of my sweet, young daughter. She enjoys and is good at painting. On her own, she was convicted to share the Gospel with others. She came up with the idea to paint rocks and put these and home-made witnessing tracts in a baggie. Her goal was to put them around town. She already put some around the outside of the library. We have since financed buying her kid-friendly tracts from Regular Baptist Press. She even wants to send some home with my parents one day so that she can be apart of telling others in Missouri about Jesus!
So, what do floral arrangements, photography, sewing, and painting have in common!? They represent skills God has given that can then be used to serve Him in some way! Whether the purpose is for witnessing or serving others, we all have a specific skill-set that God can use through us. We just have to shoot the ball, as my mom put it! We have to be creative!
I encourage you to think about what natural skill(s) you have that can be creatively used to serve God in some way. It is a neat thing to think outside of the box, too! These skill-sets can be used in the church, of course! However, we can also think creatively in order to bless our neighbors—and even complete strangers—as God leads.
While on earth, Jesus was the greatest example of servitude. I will end with this verse:
For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many (Mark 10:45).