Are you scared of the dark?
Or scared of the light?
And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years,
Genesis 1:14
and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so.
Genesis 1:15
And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars.
Genesis 1:16
And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth,
Genesis 1:17
to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.
Genesis 1:18
And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.
Genesis 1:19
As we study our new series this month, God the Creator, we’re also looking at our own creations. Because God is creative, and we are made in His image, we also are creative.
When God created something, He displayed it. He made it available.
But when we create something, we often want to hide it.
Why are we afraid of the light?
If we show others who we are, what we’ve done, how we love, we’re often afraid of being rejected. Of not being good enough. Of our creations being unappreciated or devalued.
But human approval isn’t our goal. Striving for fleshly perfectionism only hinders, not helps. Creativity begets creativity, and with God involved, it’s always enough.
What Are You Making?
What are we creating anyway? Maybe you’re an artist by profession. You paint or sculpt or illustrate.
But there are infinite ways to be creative that extend beyond the traditional definition.
- Perhaps you write a blog.
- Or you work with children.
- Or you prepare three meals a day for your family.
- Maybe you heal broken bodies or keep track of finances or wait tables.
Each of those is an act of creation.
And more importantly, done with the motivation to honor God, they also are each an act of love.
You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.
Matthew 5:14
Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.
Matthew 5:15
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 5:16
How can you use your creations as a light on the hill for God to be glorified?
Shine the Light
Start with one step. If there’s a project you’ve been wanting to start, instead of being overwhelmed by the workload to get to the finish line, just do the first next thing.
Then do it afraid. None of us wants fear as a sidekick. But we can’t wait for fear to disappear before we share our gifts of love with the world. We may have to hit “publish” on our blogs with trembling fingers or say “Nice to meet you” to a new neighbor with a shaky voice. Put fear in the shadows when your light needs to shine.
In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
John 1:4
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
John 1:5
As God created the sun to shine in the day and the moon to shine in the night, He also created us to be brilliant reflections of His love.
Plants grow toward the light to feed their leaves; we, too, grow toward the Light to replenish our souls. When we mirror His image back to those in our lives, we release beautiful things that need to be seen.
Walking in the light is safer than hiding in the dark. Whatever our gifts and talents are, if we use them to serve others, they’ll illuminate and glorify God.
For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.
Ephesians 5:8
Extra Study
- Close your eyes for 10 seconds. Can you still tell where light is coming from?
- Open your eyes and look toward the brightest source of light where you are. Is it natural or man-made? What is it helping you to do?
- Read through these verses on “light” from Blue Letter Bible. Which one stands out to you?
- Say a prayer of thanks to God right now for the Light in your life and how He will help you shine light on your own creativity for His sake.
Related:
- You’ve Been Called – Light Up as a Priest
- Three Reasons to Let Go of Perfectionism
- Don’t Be Invisible
Do you think you’re a creative person? What prevents you from releasing your creations to the world? Please share in the comments.
I totally live this battle of wanting to hide my creations. Sometimes hitting PUBLISH on a post or saying yes to the Mailchimp sweating monkey to send out your campaign is the hardest thing I do. I also make short promotional video clips for churches that I’m speaking at. I find those hard to sent too. It’s almost like cracking your soul open for the world to see. It’s good to remember that we’re being like our Daddy when we create! Thanks for this thought-provoking post.
~Sherry Stahl
xoxo
I get that, Sherry. It’s hard for many of us to crack our souls open for the world to see (I love your phrasing there). But you’re right that it is being like our Daddy when we do. I hope you continue to share your words with us all. Everybody has something unique to share, showing another side of God that we don’t always get to see!
Hanging off the Northeast corner of the Eastern time zone, we lose our light early. Metaphors about light and its absence take on real meaning for me when my daylight starts fading at 3:30 on cloudy days. The Creation story underscores for me that the true source of light was there from the very beginning.
Oh, that would be hard for me living on that side of a time zone, Michele. I don’t like losing light earlier. I’m already looking forward to winter solstice when the days start getting longer again. It’s Dec 21 this year. :) But your point is beautiful: the source of light was always there from the beginning. And I love the fact that the Sun is always shining even when our backs are to it for 12 hours a night.
Good one, Lisa. Our Father is gratified when we use the gifts He’s blessed us with and share with others. We don’t need to be Rembrandt or Steinbeck to bring joy into other people’s lives as well as our own. Just like you did today. What an honor it is to share our gifts with others!
I love those verses in Matthew. I did a study on them a long time ago. As I recall the definition in Greek for “light” was different in each verse. Meaning that it covered every sense of how it could be interpreted. Thanks for the reminder!
That’s so interesting, Floyd. Maybe we need more words for light ourselves to add some nuance to it. Thanks for your encouragement and your own use of words to glorify the Father. You do that every week on your blog as well as the comments you leave around the web. That doesn’t go unnoticed! You shine.
Love this, Lisa: “God created us to be brilliant reflections of His love.” Thank you, sweet friend, for sharing your heart. xoxo
You’re welcome, Crystal. It’s easier for us to share when we’re in the company of friends. :)
Lisa,
This encourages me because I wanted to hide and not publish my book. What you said: “When we mirror His image back to those in our lives, we release beautiful things that need to be seen.” Because it is all ultimately about Him, pointing to Him, and so we create as He leads, and we rest in His love. Thank you!
Yes, you’re a perfect example of this, Dolly. Because you continued working on releasing your book despite your fears, many people will be blessed, and God will get the glory. You did a great job reflecting all the honor back to Him.
As an artist I have spurts of creativity, so I am not always painting, drawing, writing, etc. I hate it because there’s always an idea I have in mind. Good post Lisa, Thanks!
Always having an idea in mind is more creativity than many of us can claim. ;-) I appreciate artists who can hold space open in their minds for the next thing and the next thing.
Lisa, I needed this encouragement. My knitting is the only thing I proudly present to others, but I have blog posts I need to just push the publish button on.
I don’t get to see your knitting, but I’m definitely glad I get to see the posts you do publish, Lori. Keep letting your light shine, friend!
These are such good thoughts to keep in mind as we are following Jesus. He wants us to reflect His Light, and He made us in His image to be creative! But I am also one of those hesitating to hit that “publish” button with almost every post! Thank you for this encouragement to share the Light that He has given to us.
It seems like many of us feel that hesitancy to share. And maybe sometimes it’s a good thing, speaking for myself. ha. But typically when God does give us something to put out into the world, something we’ve seen Him do for us or others, it’s a great thing to let that light shine. Easier said than done though, right? Thanks for sharing yourself, Bettie.
Great essay, Lisa.
I stay in the shadows by training; being the ‘gray man’ is something that allowed me to do things that would have been difficult had I cultivated ‘standing out’ in any way. It was a life-paradigm – I did a lot creatively, but never talked about it, and never let anyone close enough to see.
Only lately – and through the Internet – have I dropped my guard. Those who know me personally would still feel that I walk in the shadows.
Weird.
http://blessed-are-the-pure-of-heart.blogspot.com/2016/11/your-dying-spouse-231-vulnerability-fmf_10.html
Well, we do need the shadow-workers too, who quietly work behind the scenes to keep things running smoothly. Nothing wrong with that. But even they have things that the light needs to shine on. I’m glad you’ve found a balance for that in your own life, Andrew. You’ve helped a lot of people with the words you’ve released into the world.
Love the extra study part! That was really neat!
I’m glad that was beneficial to you, Helene. I’m looking hard for the sun outside my window right now. :) It’s trying to peek through, but I know it’s there, whether I see it or not.
https://youtu.be/j4oCknbD0Qk
I was listening to this song a lot last week, and then you wrote this blog post. ???? I don’t think I’m creative, but hopefully I reflect Jesus in all I do.
Wow–that is a very appropriate song for this post. Thanks, Ashley! You are a very wonderful moon. :) I definitely see you reflecting the light of the Lord to those all around our world.
Inspiring post!
God’s children have so much potential. …so much love and light to share, it’s sad we let fear hold us back. We must cling to God’s promises and remember that God has not given us a spirit of fear.
HE is for us!
Let’s shine- Matt 5:16
Encouraging words, TC. Thank you. We need to remind each other of these truths more often–that we’ve each been given special things to share and to do so courageously. Yes, God always has us! We can stand confidently on that.
Lisa, I really appreciated the reminder that our creativity should be used to illuminate God’s glory (not our own). Thank you for sharing.
Thanks, Kelli. I think it comes naturally to us to want the glory for ourselves, but isn’t it brighter when it reflects God instead? I know you shine for Him!