February 4, 2025 • 12 mins
Have you ever thought about the deeper purpose behind your art? This week on the Thriving Christian Artist podcast, I explore the profound intersection of creativity and spirituality inspired by a question from a student grappling with finding meaning in their artistic journey. Drawing from my 30-plus years of crafting baskets from natural materials, I share how the simple act of creating can be a form of glorifying God. Join me, Matt Tommey, as we reflect on the role and process of prophetic art and the transformative power of engaging the Holy Spirit in the creative process, which can unveil unexpected beauty and divine communication, even beyond our original intentions.
You'll hear how God uses our creative endeavors to shape us and reveal His nature through our work. Whether you're a painter, writer, musician, or fiber artist, I invite you to see the creative process as a journey of learning and transformation. Together, we'll embrace the mystery and beauty of being artists, understanding that our work not only reflects what God is doing within us but also touches others in unforeseen ways. With inspiration from Ecclesiastes, we remind ourselves that God makes everything beautiful in His time, encouraging you to trust that your art is a part of that divine timing.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Thriving Christian Artist, the
podcast, where we hope youconnect with God to bust through
the roadblocks that have heldyou back for years, create the
work you love and really livethe life you know.
God created you to live as anartist in His kingdom.
I'm Matt Tama, your host.
Let's get started.
Well, hey, my friend, superglad that you are here on the
(00:24):
podcast with me today.
I had a great question thisweek from a student of mine who
was struggling with this wholeidea of trying to find a deeper
purpose and meaning for theirlife.
Well, wrestled with that overthe years, especially with the
(00:45):
rise of what many people wouldcall prophetic art and learning
to engage the Holy Spirit in thecreative process, you can
really feel like, well, gosh, Ishould have this big spiritual
meaning, this deeper purpose,you know, for my life.
And you know if you don't havethat or don't feel like you're
walking in that, sometimes youcan kind of feel like, well,
(01:05):
gosh, why am I missing it?
Or why isn't God speaking to meabout that?
But I want to really kind ofbring you a different sort of
perspective today and reallyintroduce you to this idea that
simply creating is to glorifyGod.
There's nothing else that youhave to do in your creative
(01:28):
process other than to do thething that he has created you to
do.
You know, for me this kind ofcame the long way around, I
guess, when I started creatingyears ago in fact, I've been
gosh now, it seems funny to saybut over, I think, 31, 32 years
now I've been making baskets andcreating from natural materials
(01:49):
and that sort of thing.
I had no clue that God had anypurpose for that creativity in
my life, much less wanted to useit to form and make me into his
image, or to speak through mycreative process, or to be able
to speak, you know, to others,uh, through that.
I just did it because I lovedit.
I'm sure you can probably, youknow, think of that as well.
(02:12):
Just by whatever you're doing,whether it's fiber art or, uh,
painting or music or writing oror whatever it is you know, most
of us start in that place ofjust pure enjoyment just because
we love to do it.
I can, I can remember for years, and even today, uh, I get such
a charge of just going in thewoods and finding really cool
(02:36):
materials and dragging them backto the truck, the SUV, the
whatever, bringing them to thestudio and working with them and
getting my hands dirty andbeing inspired by how nature is
working together, the differentcolors and textures and
relationships in nature.
I love all of that and peopleare able to see that and feel
that in my work, regardless oftheir spirituality, relationship
(03:02):
or non-relationship with theLord.
That joy of connecting for meartistically comes through my
work and for me, now that Ireally know how God uses art and
how God uses the creativeprocess and the life of an
artist, I think that it's it'ssuch a beautiful mystery and
(03:24):
reality to embrace that Godworks through our creative
process, not only to to make youknow, as we make art, that that
touches other people, but itreally is to touch me.
It's it's in that creativeprocess that I learn about him.
I learned who I am.
I learned how materials areformed and shaped and I learned
(03:46):
how things work together.
I learned how beauty is process, making is a process, this
process of preparation andrefinement and struggle and then
ultimately, you know work beingcreated.
All of this is God is using inthis process to shape me, but
(04:07):
he's also using that process tospeak to others and I think most
of the time.
If I'm honest, it's way beyondand even in spite of any
creative intention that I mighthave, I love the scripture in
Ecclesiastes.
It talks about, you know, god'sGod makes everything beautiful
in his time, and sometimes whenI'm making something, I'm just
(04:29):
making it because I love it andI'll put it out there at a show,
at a gallery, online orwhatever, and somebody will see
something completely differentthan what I ever intended or not
intended to to have be thepurpose of, of this work.
And that mystery, happens to me, is the beauty of being an
(04:50):
artist, because the work that wecreate not only reflects what
God's doing in us and in ourheart, but it reflects the
beauty of His nature.
It reflects our eternalconnection with Him, the promise
of a new reality that is bothhere in the kingdom of God and
is both on the way in thekingdom of God and in its
fullness.
(05:10):
I love that God is using allthese things together for good.
You know, for me, rather thantrying to put this heavy sort of
big spiritual why on my workand to approach it with all of
this need for my work to speakand it's got to say this and
it's got to have a propheticmeaning it's got to do all those
(05:32):
kinds of stuff.
I really have kind of set allthat to the side in my creative
process and you may go, really,yes, I have, because I've
realized over the years now, getthis.
I really believe that God caresmore that we create than what
we create.
We create than what we create.
What does that mean?
That means that when you and Iare invested in the process of
(05:56):
being an artist, of digging upinspiration, of preparing
materials, of being in thisprocess of making and refining
and creating, of showing up inthe studio every day, of
listening to his voice, offollowing inspiration, of
allowing all those things toblossom in our work, there is no
greater way to glorify God thanfor us to do the thing that he
(06:21):
has created us to do.
You know, I'm reminded of John15 and the whole you know
parable that Jesus teaches aboutthe I'm the vine, you're the
branches.
Apart from me, you can donothing.
Most of us, when we come to theChristian walk, we're taught
this sort of strivingrelationship you got to be
fruitful, you got to do thingsfor the Lord kind of this worker
(06:46):
bee mentality.
But in this story I love itbecause the only thing that the
branch has to do in relationshipto being fruitful is what?
Push harder?
No.
Try harder no, come up with allthe ways that the fruit's going
to be produced no, you knowwhat the branch has got to do
Hang on.
Hang on and cooperate.
(07:06):
In other words, stay inintimate relationship with the
vine, receive everything thatthe vine has to give it, stay in
connection, stay in cooperationand guess what?
Through that, fruit is produced.
My friend, this may be anewsflash for you, but your art,
the way God designed it, isdesigned to be fruit.
(07:26):
You and I are designed asdifferent kinds of branches.
I'm a branch that producesbaskets.
I'm a branch that producesbaskets.
You're a branch that producespaintings.
Somebody else might be a branchthat produces poetry or music
or whatever.
The fruit of our life is notdetermined by how hard we try,
is determined by how well westay connected.
(07:47):
Woo, come on somebody.
In fact, colossians 3.23,saysians 3, 23 says what
whatever you do, whatever you do, work at it with your whole
heart, with all your heart, asworking for the Lord, not for
human masters.
In other words, don't be tryingto get out there and do all
this stuff for God.
(08:08):
Make an impact in the world,change all this?
No, listen, I know that goesagainst maybe a lot of things
that everybody's saying thesedays about make an impact and
make a big, big splash in theworld and all this kind of stuff
.
You know what God calls us to doBe faithful, stay connected, be
intimate with him, do the thingthat he's called us to do, and
when we do that we can realizethat God is producing the fruit
(08:32):
through us.
We can realize that creating isenough, because God created us
to create and to live out ofthat design glorifies him.
To live out of that place ofpurpose that God gave us is the
way that we glorify God.
I remember, in the introductionor the forward to my first book
(08:55):
Unlocking the Heart, of theArtist Ray Hughes wrote this he
said we were created by thecreator to create and listen.
I can't imagine any otherbetter way for us to glorify God
in our lives than to create,than to do the thing that he has
created us to do, and trustthat the fruit and the
(09:16):
fulfillment that we're sowanting to see in our life is
not a result of us trying harder, but it's a result of our
faithfulness, it's a result ofstaying connected to him.
It's a result of showing upfaithfully in the studio, being
filled and skilled, enlargingour capacity to him, learning to
walk and be led by the nudgesof the Spirit, by the moving of
(09:39):
the Holy Spirit inside of us, byhis voice, by his word, that
relationship of just like Jesus,just doing the things that we
see the Father doing as artists.
Listen, there's no better wayto glorify God than to do that.
God created us to create asartists and that is enough.
(10:01):
My friend, I hope you will takethis to heart and any other sort
of why or you know, desire tohave this big, deep spiritual
meaning and big impact and allthis kind of stuff.
I hope that you will lay allthat to the side, take it with a
grain of salt and realize, hey,it's enough for me to just be
who God's called me to be, to dowhat God's called me to do.
(10:24):
I love that scripture.
It's just coming to me rightnow In 1 Thessalonians.
It says you know, it's Paulessentially talking, and he says
hey, this is the way to live agreat life, live a quiet life,
work with your hands and mindyour own business.
I love that.
I love that.
I just want to live a quiet lifeconnected to God, trust that,
(10:47):
as I work with my hands and mindmy own business, he's the one
that's going to produce fruitout of my life, fruit that will
remain, fruit that will not onlytransform me in the process,
but fruit that he'll use for hisglory and for his purposes far
beyond anything else that Icould ask or imagine.
Listen, my friend, this is ajoy to be on this journey with
(11:09):
you, and I hope that you'll takethe freedom that I'm hoping to
share this with today and justrub it in your heart and say
thank you, jesus, that you'vecreated me to create and to do
that is enough.
There's nothing else that Ineed to be doing.
I could just trust you for theimpact, whatever that looks like
, whether it's for monetarypurposes, to make a living,
(11:30):
whether it's for ministry,whether it's for your own
meditative and spiritualprocessing purposes, whatever it
is, when you do that thing untothe Lord, god's going to use it
and produce fruit andfulfillment through your life.
I love you, my friend.
Thanks again for joining me hereon the podcast.
I hope that you'll rub this inand start walking in it today
and remember until next time.
(11:51):
You were created to thrive.
Bye, hey.
Thanks so much for spending afew minutes with me today on the
podcast Listen.
I hope it's been a hugeencouragement to you on your
journey as an artist.
Hey, also, before you leave,make sure to hit the subscribe
button so you don't miss any ofthe other episodes of the
Thriving Christian Artistpodcast, and also be sure to
connect with me on Facebook,instagram or at my website,
(12:14):
which is matttommymentoringcom.
Until next time, remember, youwere created to thrive.
Bye-bye, thank you.
Welcome to the Thriving Christian Artist, the
podcast, where we hope youconnect with God to bust through
the roadblocks that have heldyou back for years, create the
work you love and really livethe life you know.
God created you to live as anartist in His kingdom.
I'm Matt Tama, your host.
Let's get started.
Well, hey, my friend, superglad that you are here on the
(00:24):
podcast with me today.
I had a great question thisweek from a student of mine who
was struggling with this wholeidea of trying to find a deeper
purpose and meaning for theirlife.
Well, wrestled with that overthe years, especially with the
(00:45):
rise of what many people wouldcall prophetic art and learning
to engage the Holy Spirit in thecreative process, you can
really feel like, well, gosh, Ishould have this big spiritual
meaning, this deeper purpose,you know, for my life.
And you know if you don't havethat or don't feel like you're
walking in that, sometimes youcan kind of feel like, well,
(01:05):
gosh, why am I missing it?
Or why isn't God speaking to meabout that?
But I want to really kind ofbring you a different sort of
perspective today and reallyintroduce you to this idea that
simply creating is to glorifyGod.
There's nothing else that youhave to do in your creative
(01:28):
process other than to do thething that he has created you to
do.
You know, for me this kind ofcame the long way around, I
guess, when I started creatingyears ago in fact, I've been
gosh now, it seems funny to saybut over, I think, 31, 32 years
now I've been making baskets andcreating from natural materials
(01:49):
and that sort of thing.
I had no clue that God had anypurpose for that creativity in
my life, much less wanted to useit to form and make me into his
image, or to speak through mycreative process, or to be able
to speak, you know, to others,uh, through that.
I just did it because I lovedit.
I'm sure you can probably, youknow, think of that as well.
(02:12):
Just by whatever you're doing,whether it's fiber art or, uh,
painting or music or writing oror whatever it is you know, most
of us start in that place ofjust pure enjoyment just because
we love to do it.
I can, I can remember for years, and even today, uh, I get such
a charge of just going in thewoods and finding really cool
(02:36):
materials and dragging them backto the truck, the SUV, the
whatever, bringing them to thestudio and working with them and
getting my hands dirty andbeing inspired by how nature is
working together, the differentcolors and textures and
relationships in nature.
I love all of that and peopleare able to see that and feel
that in my work, regardless oftheir spirituality, relationship
(03:02):
or non-relationship with theLord.
That joy of connecting for meartistically comes through my
work and for me, now that Ireally know how God uses art and
how God uses the creativeprocess and the life of an
artist, I think that it's it'ssuch a beautiful mystery and
(03:24):
reality to embrace that Godworks through our creative
process, not only to to make youknow, as we make art, that that
touches other people, but itreally is to touch me.
It's it's in that creativeprocess that I learn about him.
I learned who I am.
I learned how materials areformed and shaped and I learned
(03:46):
how things work together.
I learned how beauty is process, making is a process, this
process of preparation andrefinement and struggle and then
ultimately, you know work beingcreated.
All of this is God is using inthis process to shape me, but
(04:07):
he's also using that process tospeak to others and I think most
of the time.
If I'm honest, it's way beyondand even in spite of any
creative intention that I mighthave, I love the scripture in
Ecclesiastes.
It talks about, you know, god'sGod makes everything beautiful
in his time, and sometimes whenI'm making something, I'm just
(04:29):
making it because I love it andI'll put it out there at a show,
at a gallery, online orwhatever, and somebody will see
something completely differentthan what I ever intended or not
intended to to have be thepurpose of, of this work.
And that mystery, happens to me, is the beauty of being an
(04:50):
artist, because the work that wecreate not only reflects what
God's doing in us and in ourheart, but it reflects the
beauty of His nature.
It reflects our eternalconnection with Him, the promise
of a new reality that is bothhere in the kingdom of God and
is both on the way in thekingdom of God and in its
fullness.
(05:10):
I love that God is using allthese things together for good.
You know, for me, rather thantrying to put this heavy sort of
big spiritual why on my workand to approach it with all of
this need for my work to speakand it's got to say this and
it's got to have a propheticmeaning it's got to do all those
(05:32):
kinds of stuff.
I really have kind of set allthat to the side in my creative
process and you may go, really,yes, I have, because I've
realized over the years now, getthis.
I really believe that God caresmore that we create than what
we create.
We create than what we create.
What does that mean?
That means that when you and Iare invested in the process of
(05:56):
being an artist, of digging upinspiration, of preparing
materials, of being in thisprocess of making and refining
and creating, of showing up inthe studio every day, of
listening to his voice, offollowing inspiration, of
allowing all those things toblossom in our work, there is no
greater way to glorify God thanfor us to do the thing that he
(06:21):
has created us to do.
You know, I'm reminded of John15 and the whole you know
parable that Jesus teaches aboutthe I'm the vine, you're the
branches.
Apart from me, you can donothing.
Most of us, when we come to theChristian walk, we're taught
this sort of strivingrelationship you got to be
fruitful, you got to do thingsfor the Lord kind of this worker
(06:46):
bee mentality.
But in this story I love itbecause the only thing that the
branch has to do in relationshipto being fruitful is what?
Push harder?
No.
Try harder no, come up with allthe ways that the fruit's going
to be produced no, you knowwhat the branch has got to do
Hang on.
Hang on and cooperate.
(07:06):
In other words, stay inintimate relationship with the
vine, receive everything thatthe vine has to give it, stay in
connection, stay in cooperationand guess what?
Through that, fruit is produced.
My friend, this may be anewsflash for you, but your art,
the way God designed it, isdesigned to be fruit.
(07:26):
You and I are designed asdifferent kinds of branches.
I'm a branch that producesbaskets.
I'm a branch that producesbaskets.
You're a branch that producespaintings.
Somebody else might be a branchthat produces poetry or music
or whatever.
The fruit of our life is notdetermined by how hard we try,
is determined by how well westay connected.
(07:47):
Woo, come on somebody.
In fact, colossians 3.23,saysians 3, 23 says what
whatever you do, whatever you do, work at it with your whole
heart, with all your heart, asworking for the Lord, not for
human masters.
In other words, don't be tryingto get out there and do all
this stuff for God.
(08:08):
Make an impact in the world,change all this?
No, listen, I know that goesagainst maybe a lot of things
that everybody's saying thesedays about make an impact and
make a big, big splash in theworld and all this kind of stuff
.
You know what God calls us to doBe faithful, stay connected, be
intimate with him, do the thingthat he's called us to do, and
when we do that we can realizethat God is producing the fruit
(08:32):
through us.
We can realize that creating isenough, because God created us
to create and to live out ofthat design glorifies him.
To live out of that place ofpurpose that God gave us is the
way that we glorify God.
I remember, in the introductionor the forward to my first book
(08:55):
Unlocking the Heart, of theArtist Ray Hughes wrote this he
said we were created by thecreator to create and listen.
I can't imagine any otherbetter way for us to glorify God
in our lives than to create,than to do the thing that he has
created us to do, and trustthat the fruit and the
(09:16):
fulfillment that we're sowanting to see in our life is
not a result of us trying harder, but it's a result of our
faithfulness, it's a result ofstaying connected to him.
It's a result of showing upfaithfully in the studio, being
filled and skilled, enlargingour capacity to him, learning to
walk and be led by the nudgesof the Spirit, by the moving of
(09:39):
the Holy Spirit inside of us, byhis voice, by his word, that
relationship of just like Jesus,just doing the things that we
see the Father doing as artists.
Listen, there's no better wayto glorify God than to do that.
God created us to create asartists and that is enough.
(10:01):
My friend, I hope you will takethis to heart and any other sort
of why or you know, desire tohave this big, deep spiritual
meaning and big impact and allthis kind of stuff.
I hope that you will lay allthat to the side, take it with a
grain of salt and realize, hey,it's enough for me to just be
who God's called me to be, to dowhat God's called me to do.
(10:24):
I love that scripture.
It's just coming to me rightnow In 1 Thessalonians.
It says you know, it's Paulessentially talking, and he says
hey, this is the way to live agreat life, live a quiet life,
work with your hands and mindyour own business.
I love that.
I love that.
I just want to live a quiet lifeconnected to God, trust that,
(10:47):
as I work with my hands and mindmy own business, he's the one
that's going to produce fruitout of my life, fruit that will
remain, fruit that will not onlytransform me in the process,
but fruit that he'll use for hisglory and for his purposes far
beyond anything else that Icould ask or imagine.
Listen, my friend, this is ajoy to be on this journey with
(11:09):
you, and I hope that you'll takethe freedom that I'm hoping to
share this with today and justrub it in your heart and say
thank you, jesus, that you'vecreated me to create and to do
that is enough.
There's nothing else that Ineed to be doing.
I could just trust you for theimpact, whatever that looks like
, whether it's for monetarypurposes, to make a living,
(11:30):
whether it's for ministry,whether it's for your own
meditative and spiritualprocessing purposes, whatever it
is, when you do that thing untothe Lord, god's going to use it
and produce fruit andfulfillment through your life.
I love you, my friend.
Thanks again for joining me hereon the podcast.
I hope that you'll rub this inand start walking in it today
and remember until next time.
(11:51):
You were created to thrive.
Bye, hey.
Thanks so much for spending afew minutes with me today on the
podcast Listen.
I hope it's been a hugeencouragement to you on your
journey as an artist.
Hey, also, before you leave,make sure to hit the subscribe
button so you don't miss any ofthe other episodes of the
Thriving Christian Artistpodcast, and also be sure to
connect with me on Facebook,instagram or at my website,
(12:14):
which is matttommymentoringcom.
Until next time, remember, youwere created to thrive.
Bye-bye, thank you.
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