As I was wrestling with this idea of whether or not my art was a selfish pursuit, I found these great verses in Galatians that speak to just that. Starting in Chapter 5 verse 16:
My counsel is this: Live freely, animated and motivated by God’s Spirit. Then you won’t feed the compulsions of selfishness. For there is a root of sinful self-interest in us that is at odds with a free spirit, just as the free spirit is incompatible with selfishness.
Really? The selfish life is not the same as the free life? For the longest time I thought to be living free was to be living selfish. For some reason I had this idea in my mind that to be doing the things of God, I have to be doing things that I hate. Since I enjoy art, since writing flows out of me and I love it, I assume that that means those are selfish pursuits. I’m living selflessly only when I hate what I’m doing. But the Bible doesn’t say this at all!
What Paul says is that if we are led by God’s Spirit then we will live a free life and not a selfish one. How do we live by God’s Spirit? We make room to hear from Him. We make space in our lives to hear what He’s telling us. We make time in our day to listen to our heart. God plants dreams inside us, His Spirit helps us recognize them and live them out. To not listen to your heart, to God’s voice, that is selfish.
Continuing in Galatians 5 we see warning signs that show us we are living selfishly. Some that stick out to me because I’ve seen them in my own life are (5:19-21):
- small-minded pursuits (as opposed to big, God-sized dreams)
- cut throat competition (comparing myself to others)
- never satisfied (self-criticism)
- anger
- can’t love or be loved (emotionally empty)
- see everyone as a rival
- parodies of community (surround myself with lots of people, so I can stay busy and not have to think about my own heart)
It’s interesting to me to note that a lot of these selfish characteristics actually pour out of me when I’m not allowing time for my art, rather than when I am. I get angry, I get empty and can’t love others or myself, I get consumed with competition and rivalry, all of these occur when I haven’t made time for me to create.
So here’s some of what the free life looks like, and with it the evidence that we’re being a good steward and not living selfishly (5:22-23):
- exuberance about life
- commitments that I can be loyal to (limiting myself to what’s priority instead of trying to be and do everything)
- ability to direct my energy well
- persistence
- peace (content with myself and how I’m living)
- not forcing our way in life (not trying to be something I’m not)
- affection for others (instead of having to be them or be better than them)
These are fruits in our lives that are the result of planting the right seeds in our lives. They are evidence that we are living selflessly, that we are living freely, that we are nurturing what we’ve been given.
I see these fruits in my life only when I am making time for my art. When I have space to write and create and dream it’s then that I get excited about God and life and loving on my kids and my husband and feeding into the lives of others. If I’m busy doing the things God has called me to then I don’t even have the time to notice what others are doing and if I should be jealous or if I should be trying to be them instead.
If we have a part of the body of Christ to fulfill, if I am an arm and no one else can be an arm, it is far more selfish for me to not be myself than to be myself. Why would I hold back from contributing to the body? How could my contribution possibly be seen as selfish? That’s a ridiculous notion.
Perhaps the most selfish thing we can do is deny our call as artists. To believe we don’t have anything to contribute and to hoard what we’ve been given instead of sharing it with others. That or to think the gift is of our own doing. That we are the source, instead of God.
Which side are you living on? Are you being selfish or being a steward? There is no middle-ground. Do you, much like I did, need to re-define selfishness?
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Love that analogy of the arm, we think we’re being selfish using our gifts and the things God intends us for, when i reality we’re selfish when we don’t use, them and extend our arm for the whole body to use and enjoy.