Like you, I’m facing significant challenges at the moment. There are a host of problems that feel overwhelming and are causing a good deal of suffering.
The frustrating thing is that most of these situations are completely out of my control. And yet, I often attempt to think my way to a solution - treating my life like a detective mystery where I’m mentally searching for the one clue or insight that will unlock the situation and provide a resolution.
While reading the last chapter of her book The Mind of the Maker, Dorothy Sayers recently helped me understand that life isn’t a detective novel. Our lives are (and our world is) full of problems, challenges, and suffering that do not have an analytical solution.
So what are we to do?
The answer to that question set me on fire.
I’m extra excited about today’s newsletter because I’ve recently discovered the connective tissue between creativity, entrepreneurship, and faith in Christ. I’ve spent most of my life wondering why I’m drawn to these three interests, and I’ve often wondered if they go together at all. Maybe I should lean into one and abandon the others?
I’ve started to say, “I like to hang out on the corner of creativity, entrepreneurship, and faith,” but I haven’t had clarity about why I’m passionate about this corner.
The Lord recently gifted me with the insight that these three passions intersect at what Sayers would call “the artistic mindset” - the mindset of making something new.
The way to deal with the world’s problems, bring healing, spread light that pushes against the darkness, and participate in the coming of the greater Kingdom (the Kingdom of God) is by making new things.
Highly creative people seem to know this instinctually.
Many of the best creative works come from artists wrestling with their heavy feelings. With no solution in sight, the artistic instinct is to channel the problem into a new creation. And somehow, that new creation brings a bit of healing and relief both to the artists and to others who encounter the new creation.
Entrepreneurs do this as well.
The entrepreneurial response to problems is to create a new business that hopes to provide a solution or an alternative way of dealing with a particular challenge. The entrepreneurial drive to “make something new” is, more often than not, a blessing to many. These new creations provide relief to common problems, but they also have extra benefits, such as creating jobs.
To be a Christian means participating with God in making all things new.
And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold I am making all things new.”
Revelation 21:5
For those of us who believe and follow Christ, much of our life is participating in the ongoing work of God as we lean into the ways of God. And the way that God often deals with problems, challenges, and solutions is by using them to create new things. Take James 1, for example.
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.
James 1:2-3
Why should we have joy amid trials? God is using them to produce something new in us.
In light of this, my prayers have recently changed from “Lord, give me wisdom in how to deal with and solve this problem” to “Lord, what new thing are you making in me? And give me wisdom about how you want me to participate with You in making new things from this.”
The compulsion to make new things isn’t particular to artists and entrepreneurs; it’s also a quality found among saints.
The difference between ordinary people and saints is not that saints fulfill the plain duties which ordinary men neglect. The things saints do have not usually occurred to ordinary people at all… “Gracious” conduct is somehow like the work of an artist. It needs imagination and spontaneity. It is not a choice between presented alternatives but the creation of something new.
A.D. Lindsay
When we think of godliness, I suspect we are most likely to think about staying away from bad things. Keeping our distance from the bad is a part of godliness, but it is so incomplete that it’s downright wrong and deceptive on its own. True godliness involves participating with God in the creation of new and good things. Instead of avoiding the darkness, we are called to be light that pushes against the darkness.
You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
Matthew 5:13-16
How do we shine our light into the darkness? By doing good works.
What does it look like to make new things?
I propose to you that “doing good work” is, in essence, participating in the creation of new things.
Every Christ follower is called to a form of God-inspired creativity. We are called to press into the world with new imaginative creations in response to the problems, heartache, challenges, suffering, sins, and evils we experience and see around us.
This can look like artistic endeavors, but it isn’t limited to that.
For example, in response to family trauma, an artist like myself might be compelled to write a song. Through that song, I receive some help and healing. As I share the song, others who have experienced family trauma also benefit. The song becomes like a light pushing against the darkness of family-related heartache.
However, in response to these challenges, I might also be compelled to create a new family culture within my own home. Or I might be compelled to counsel others who are walking through family trauma.
In all of these scenarios, I am making something new and praying that the Lord would use my new creations as a means through which He makes all things new.
Our new creations can also come from places of joy. A fun song, comedy sketch, having friends over for game night, being intentional about family vacations - these imaginative new creations remind us that there are good, beautiful, and enjoyable things in life because God is good, beautiful, and enjoyable.
Godliness (being more and more like God) involves creativity, imagination, productivity, intentionality, vision, and the active manifestation of new good works.
Go make something new.
I’m renaming this newsletter Make Something New because my aim with this bit of space on the interwebs is to champion “the artistic mindset” in you.
If you are an artist, I want to fan the flames of your desire to make new things. We need you. Your work is important—even when no one sees it or appreciates it. If anything, your artistic nature reminds us all of the value of making new things. However, sharing your work is also important because your new creations have the potential to serve, heal, and help others.
If you’re an entrepreneur, I want to cheer you on. And honestly, I want to learn from you. I admire you. Entrepreneurs risk their financial future for the sake of making new things. And the entrepreneur’s nature is to act on manifesting the new creations they dream up. I love these things about you. I hope this will be a space that encourages you to keep going.
If you have faith in Christ, I want to show that God calls you to ongoing creativity. When we follow Christ, we are called to use our lives to make new things. The beauty of the body of Christ is that the manifestation of this call will look different for each of us. I hope to encourage you to keep your eyes open for how God is leading you to participate with Him as He is making all things new.
And ultimately, I hope to grow this newsletter into a community of people who are living into all three areas. A community of makers with an artistic bent, an entrepreneurial spirit, and a fiery faith in Christ. A community of makers who want to be light, serve the world, provide for their families, and glorify God. A community of people who are committed to spending their lives making something new.
So, let me officially welcome you to Make Something New I’m glad you’re here.
What are you making?
I’d love to hear from you. What new things are you making right now? If you hit reply, your email will come straight to me.
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WHAT I'M READING THIS WEEK
Echoes of Eden
A few months ago, my pastor friend, Tony Shepherd, recommended this book to me while we were having a discussion on the importance of creativity. I put it on my "must-read" list, and I just received my copy and dove into the first couple of chapters.
A few thoughts I've had so far while reading:
There are wonders in God's creation that are still being discovered. This means that for years and years there are beautiful creative works unseen and unappreciated by men and women. It would seem that it's worth it to make something beautiful for the sake of doing good work. God can relate to us when we feel that we are doing good creative work in obscurity.
Jerram Barrs provides more substance behind the idea that we shouldn't fret and strive after originality - a concept Austin Kleon speaks about in his book Steal Like an Artist. We are all riffing on God's original genius. He is the only One who can truly make something out of nothing.
The arts are meant to make us selfless. They are meant to help us see from another's perspective. They are meant to expand us. They help us look beyond ourselves into how others see the world.
Creative work hasn't always been a "status symbol." Before the Romantic period, artistic work was considered just another trade to learn and develop. Artists simply made things to beautify everyday life. The Romantic period elevated the arts and the artist to something that is "high culture." This stirred up many thoughts that I hope to unpack in future writing, but one negative side-effect of the elevation of the arts and artists is that we now have many people chasing after creative work not for the work itself but for the rare fruits of fame and fortune. And many talented artists refrain from using their gifts to beautify everyday life because of the limiting belief that your a piece of work is only valuable if it is championed by the masses.
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Quote of the Week
The disastrous and widening cleavage between the Church and the Arts on the other leaves the common man with the impression that the artist is something of little account, either in this world or the next; and has left him in a curious spiritual isolation. Yet with all his faults, he remains the person who can throw most light on that "creative attitude to life" to which bewildered leaders of thought are now belatedly exhorting a no less bewildered humanity.
Dorothy Sayers
In other words, when we aren't sure what to do, and we can't seem to find a solution, the artist teaches and reminds the world of the value of making something new.
But as I'm building out my website I decided that it would be good to write a bit more about these and place them on my site so that folks can get a solid feel for what kind of content I create. I would be tickled if you would take a second to stop by my site and check them. Maybe even let me know which ones resonate with you?
