You were designed to create things.

Just reading that might create an expectation of art, music or architecture. But from a biblical perspective there’s so much more to creating than just arts and buildings. Even in the creation account of Genesis 1, God’s first creation is not material, it is light and darkness (remember, that’s not the Sun, that was created a few days later). God creates atmospheres and environments. Things we take for granted because we can’t climb them or cut them down to build with.

So in a powerful way God established the idea of creating as a very open thing. People who can cook or make strangers feel comfortable are creative just as much as painters, sculptors and composers.

There’s a verse in Psalm 115 that is well known and compelling on its own:

Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them. – Psalm 115:8

This verse is talking about idols; gods made by humans and then subsequently worshipped by them. It comes on the heels of a cadence which exposes the comprehensive fragility and limited nature of idols made by human hands (they have eyes but can’t see, mouths but can’t speak, etc…). And an important key feature of idols is revealed here: they are objects of worship for the ones who make what they are – so they represent an endless cycle of futility.

However, as surprising as it may sound, idolatry shares a trait with Christianity in that it is a worshipping of the creator. The difference between the two – which is a profound difference – is the identity of the [C]creator. Idolatry is essentially the worshipping the creator of the idol. Christianity locates the singular Creator of all things as the centerpiece of worship.

But there was an interesting idea in the implications of Psalm 115 as I meditated on this today. Because, it should be said: making things is not a problem. In fact creating and making seems to be one of the ways we reveal whose image we are created in. If God is a Creator, and we are made in His image and likeness, it would seem to be an easy step to take that we are designed to also be creators. Childbirth, skyscrapers and Tuesday night Bible studies are all evidences that we are also creators.

So the question Psalm 115 brings up is NOT, “should we be creators or is that wrong?” No. The question is, “what is the proper way to be a creator?” The psalmist’s language is important: “those who make them become like them.”

When we are creating as a way to replace our Creator we are becoming like something that is, by nature, less than we are.

But when we are creating as a way to honor our Creator we are becoming like Someone who is, by nature, greater than we are.

The question is not, “should I create?” Instead it is, “what is motivating my creative process?”

It’s far too easy to read a verse like Psalm 115:8 and come to conclusions that cause the dampening of creativity and building and forming and expanding. This might sound like a huge leap, but look at the evangelical churches over the last 30 years (not just the 10 largest, but the 5,000 smallest) and ask, “are we more interested in creating things or waiting on the end?”

There is too much theology/doctrine which obsesses over hoarding things because of what might happen in the world. And, to be clear, wisdom always prepares, but where are the voices balancing us? Where are the voices saying, “we need to build and create and make as much or more than we need to hoard, prep and burry emergency supplies?”

See, if we are becoming like the things we are making, it logically makes sense that if most of our efforts are spent building security measures to survive catastrophe, we will become like those things: fearful, worried, pessimistic and always on the lookout for conspiracies.

However, if we are becoming like the things we are making, and we choose to make beautiful things even if they might be torn down, if we choose to invest in deep relationships even if they won’t last forever, if we choose to plant things that won’t produce fruit or shade until long after we are gone – if these are the ways of our lives, then we are honoring a Creator above us, we are celebrating His sovereignty, and we just might find that what we make in His name and in faithful reflection of His image begins to change us to be more like Him in beautifully unexpected ways.