Everything You Need to Be Creative (with apologies to the Wizard or Oz)

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO BE CREATIVE

A LIST OF RESOURCES

(with apologies to the Wizard of Oz)

By Robert Allen

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO BE CREATIVE

• A Brain

    “If I only had a brain.”  Remember the plaintive plea of the Scarecrow from Wizard of Oz?  You are not a scarecrow hung in the fields to chase away birds.  And you don’t live in Oz.  Part of being made in the image of God includes intellect.  Animals are creative because of instinct, but we have been given gray matter.  It is a gift from the creative mind of God.

        “My mouth shall speak wisdom” Psalm 49:3

• A Heart

    Returning to Oz--you are not a Tin Woodman, lacking a heart.   When God made us in His image we acquired emotions; the ability to love, and experience joy, peace and awe.  Creativity requires a heart because we need to care enough to want to change the world for the better.       

 “Do all your work in love” I Corinthians 16:14

       

• Courage

    Aslan was not a Cowardly Lion, and neither are those who serve the God represented by Narnia’s Aslan.  We have the ability to choose, and courageous choices can lead to awesome creativity,powered by His strength.

“I can do all this through him who gives me strength” Philippians 4:13.

       

• Time

 Know anyone who has more time than you?  Tic-Toc of Oz?

Sorry--wrong answer.  1440 minutes in everyone’s day.  God is not bound by time, but He gave it to us as a gift, a treasure, to be used in the best possible ways for His glory.

    ”Making the most of every opportunity” Ephesians 5:16

• Friends

    Dorothy and Toto; Scarecrow, Tin Woodman, and Cowardly Lion.

  In order to be creative in serving God, we all need people to serve.  If you absolutely cannot think of the names of any friends, I still have good news.  God wants us to be creative in serving our enemies as well.  So, friends, or enemies, frenemies or Wicked Witches--we all qualify.

        “Let us do good to all people” Galatians 6:10

• God

God is not a Wizard who needs to conjure up images of a Ball of Fire in order to be considered “great and powerful.”  He is the creator of all!   Creativity is definitely one of the ways we can be like God, and He wants us to be like Him.  Becoming like Christ is the goal of the sanctified life.  So as we increase in knowledge about a God who is infinitely creative, we are inspired to explore the world in which He placed us with the goal of being creative ourselves.

        “In the beginning, God created…” Genesis 1:1

       

• Faith

   

Ruby slippers may have returned Dorothy to Kansas, but they lost their magic when she arrived home.   

Faith in Christ accomplishes our salvation, but it is also the source of every creative act we do for God.  We can trust Him to work out His plans for our lives, but we can also trust Him to stretch us and encourage us to attempt great things for Him.

        “We live by faith, not by sight” II Corinthians 5:7

• Desire

The Wizard gave Scarecrow a diploma, the Woodman a heart-shaped clock that ticked, and the Lion a medal--but what he really gave them was a desire to overcome their shortcomings.

Any educator will tell you that a desire to learn provides the strongest possible motive for success in the classroom.  A poor math student may excel in literature class simply because of a burning desire to understand the written word.  A desire to glorify God through the creative process will trump any innate savvy another person possesses but fails to develop.

        “Do all to the glory of God” I Corinthians 10:31

   

• Ability

From a writer’s standpoint, every ability possessed by a character in “The Wizard of Oz” came from the author—L. Frank Baum.  What a beautiful picture of the ability given to us by the Creator of our story—through His story.

A desire to glorify God, plus the spiritual use of God-given ability makes an unbeatable combination.  Not everyone has been given the same ability, but God can use everyone to the best of their ability.  Creativity is simply developing your interests to the utmost so that what you accomplish brings praise to Him.

        “I have given to all able men ability” Exodus 31:6

• The Bible

The same L. Frank Baum who created Dorothy and Toto also conceived the idea of the Wicked Witches and the Flying Monkeys. 

Admittedly, the creative mind of humanity has resulted in some horrifying inventions.  But God has provided us with a moral compass to prevent such disasters.  That is why the internalization of the Word of God must inspire our creativity.  Everything we do must be guided by the revealed truth of divine revelation.  When we base all that we do on the Word the result will be pleasing to the God who revealed Himself in the Word.

“You are my friends if you do what I command” John 15:14   

   

Look again at that list of requirements.   None of them come from Oz.

As believers we have all of them.  We already have what we need to be creative Christians.  God has given to us everything we need to be creative.  So what are we waiting for?  Let’s treasure God in an infinite variety of creative ways.  Let’s allow God to transform us into the image of the creative Christ.  Let’s determine to serve others, friends and enemies and frenemies, to the praise of His glory.  Let’s explore the intellectual, emotional, and physical boundaries of our own world, striking out as God’s explorers in every creative direction to which He leads us.  Let’s Dare to Walk on Water--creatively--with God.