For a long time, I never touched a paintbrush, even gave my supplies to someone else. However, the oddest emotions gripped me every time I was in a store that featured art supplies. I’m still not able to describe it, but it seemed as if deep was calling to deep and I was saying NO to a part of who I am. Was this God? Or my selfish desires?
In today’s devotional from My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers writes of missionary motivation. He refers to this fragment of a verse: “For His name’s sake they went forth” from 3 John 7.
In his comments, he describes how we should show our love for Jesus by being interested in people and their needs just as He is interested in them. He points to Peter’s experience when the Lord asked him, “Do you love me?” After Peter replied that he did, Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.” The Lord affirms that loving Him means taking care of others, and as Paul wrote later, this love is about attitude as much as it is about actions.
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. . . . (1 Corinthians 13:4–8)Love is also practical and active, focused on relationships. It is also the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit who sheds abroad the love of God in my heart. His love can pour through me to others. I need to build relationships so that can happen, and I remain loyal to His name’s sake when I love others in this way. Chambers says anything else is sentimental jargon.
Here is the rub: the key to devotion to Christ has nothing to do with being detached from external things. Jesus wasn’t, at least in the sense that I gave up painting. He was involved in life, eating and drinking with sinners, walking in the fields with His disciples. He had a mission but He was also a carpenter. While the Bible gives little space to His vocation, it is clear on one important thing: His detachment was not about shunning externals but was on the inside in utter devotion toward God.
Chambers says this, “External detachment is often an indication of a secret vital attachment to the things we keep away from externally.” This statement hits me and explains my emotions in the art supply stores. He goes on to say that the loyalty of those in Christian service is about keeping our souls open to the nature of the Lord Jesus Christ. God sends out ordinary humans with a dominating devotion to Himself. It is not about giving up who we are, but about doing as He says and caring about people.
God has directed and redirected my artistic bent, using it to bring me in contact with people. While I’ve mistakenly resisted paints and brushes, He worked out other ways to use creative endeavor (either mine or mutual interest) to bring me closer to others and often giving opportunity to share His love with them. It has taken me a long time to realize that it wasn’t creative ability that God wanted me to drop, but the selfishness involved. Instead, He wants to use those abilities as a channel for His blessing.
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Lord, You have shown me again and again that You can use any interest or occupation as an arena for demonstrating Your love. Even human hobbies and other interests can be wonderful connecting points with people, particularly those who are not yet interested in loving or serving You. Rather than letting my varied interests become an obsession, they are tools in Your hand (much like Moses’ staff became a tool in his hand and Yours). Forgive me for taking so long to see that it is okay to use the tools, not throw them away and think that being empty-handed makes me more useful. At the same time, help me to keep my focus on bringing glory to Your name and using whatever You put in my hands to that end.
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