As a Christian artist or creative, it is important to consider the redemptive value of your work. When viewed from a worldly perspective, we think of art in terms of monetary value—have we sold original pieces, prints, copies, songs, albums, scripts, . . . ? And we limit the value of our work to units sold. However, when we open ourselves as creatives to a heavenly view of value, we come to realize a whole new commodity. Are we changing lives, healing hearts, revealing beauty, seeking justice, claiming hearts for Our Creator? We begin to realize that there is a greater redemptive value to our work.
Last year I wrote a guest post for Nichole Howson of Defying Shadows, a blog that deals with depression, suicide, self-harm, and mental disorders. Now many of you know I love to write Bible studies (You can find a sampling of them here on my blog and many more geared towards creatives in my book). When I spoke with Nichole, I explained that I wanted to write a Bible study on Tamar, the desolate woman found in 2nd Samuel. But this would be a heavy post that dove way below the surface. A difficult post indeed, as I wrote about a woman in the Bible who did not see redemption in her lifetime. A woman violated in the worst possible way and then betrayed by the very people who should have protected her. A woman whose voice was never heard.
Yet, my purpose wasn’t only about diving deep: it was about diving deep so that resurrection could happen on the other side. I wanted my work to have a redemptive quality. It was about redeeming and finding that which was lost. You can read my post below:
And She Lived Her Life a Desolate Woman: a Meditation of 2 Samuel 13
When you work this week, won’t you consider the redemptive value your work might have on the world around you? May you see the heavenly value in all you do!
We’ll be exploring the value and worth of art and creativity this week, judging it by a HEAVENLY standard, instead of by a worldly standard. Check out the other posts by clicking on these links:
Blessings of ARTistry, CREATivity & BEaUty, Jody
P.S. Missed previous posts? Click here.
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What is Create-A-Day? Just as One-A-Day® Vitamins help restore the nutrients we deplete in our bodies, so too do we need to refill, replenish and renew our creative souls. In 2015, watch for daily* posts to undergird your ministry; lead you to resources to nurture the creative spirit within; and draw you more deeply in worship of Jesus Christ. My goal is to provide you, the creative Christian, with over 250* resources to help you develop your ARTistry, CREATivity & capacity for BEaUty. Books, worship arts ministries, video series, websites, conferences—all geared towards artists, creatives, worshipers and people serving in worship and creative arts ministries. So, visit my blog every day* to see what creative resource I’ve hunted down for you. You can stay connected by following me on 
Nurturing the Creative Spirit Within 
An amazing reminder. This is so huge. So many creative arts ministries only want to deal with excellence, and giving your best is huge, but there is something “huger” the glory and power of God. What if instead of trying to impress the world with our artistic prowess, we offered our best to the Lord and asked Him to use it to redeem lives and situations? I believe this is our true creative calling.
Yes indeed! It’s so hard not to fall in the trap of using worldly standards to judge our work, and one of those worldly standards is excellence. While we do need to give God our most excellent work we need to look to other intrinsic values, too! We’ll be looking at the heavenly value of our creative work all week. Thank you Dave!! Blessings, Jody