Thursday 30 January 2014

Calling, artistry and what it all means


When it calls to calling, to fulfilling the call that God placed on our lives many of us believe you have to work with people, or preach to be in the divine calling. This morning while doing bible study my wife casually mentioned a text that sent my mind spinning with the arrogance we often display. In Exodus 31:1-5 God calls and inspires artisans with His spirit so that they might work their arts, because He needs and deserves the best. This simple text made me re-evaluate so many things. The most important being that to live one's calling one must be in the ministry and not in the secular world. The problem lies in this text. An artisan learns his or her art in the secular world, gains experience there, and we only acknowledge his or her work when it is displayed in the church. Now there lies the problem. When an artisan makes something to the best of his or her ability, is that not exactly what God asks in this text? When a secular musician creates music that moves us, isn't that musician also praising God by using the gift He granted? When a carpenter builds a cabinet to the best of his ability and the end product amazes us, is not God praised for the beauty added to the world?

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